Dead Girl Walking
by anr017
Summary: Nina Soto is a 17 year old girl who went to stay with her Aunt and Uncle on Catrina Island before civilization started to crumble. She is soon forced to start living for today, testing the lengths she needs to go to survive, while struggling to keep her humanity in an ever changing moral landscape that is slowly being consumed by the undead.
1. Morning Light

Hello! And welcome to my version of Fear the Walking Dead. I start with the S2E02 and it will admit that my story follows Canon fairly closely until chapters like 'Head Like a Hole' and beyond where I deviate somewhat. Anyone who is a fan of Jack and Alicia will definitely enjoy what I have done (starts in Head Like a Hole). Nonetheless, I think you'll enjoy my OC Nina – she's sassy and smart – but she's also an angsty teen with an interesting story. You'll discover bits and pieces of her past, focusing on the tragedies that occurred on Catrina Island as it fell, as the story progresses. I always imagined Catrina Island fell early and quicker than mainland; the military isolating it by stopping the ferries. Anyway, sit back, relax, and enjoy reading the story!

P.S. Comments, concerns, and reviews are welcome!

* * *

Nina Soto took in a deep breath as the sea mist hit her face that was coming off the rocks. She closed her eyes exhaling slowly embracing the notion she was still alive to enjoy this beautiful sunrise. She dwelled on the idea that, for now, she had the safety to do such a thing. Her moment of serenity was cut off by the gargling noises of a biter making grasping motions desperately trying to reach the young woman.

Nina peered down from the rocks she sat on, kicking a few loose rocks into the woman's face, "Stupid blighter." She mumbled under her breath.

She brought her dark eyes up to see another biter emerging from the swells—more were washing up on shore nearly everyday. Her eyes followed it to the chain link fence that barricaded the cove where it joined a few others lurking about.

"Nina?" A voice came up from behind her, "Come on. Time to go."

She looked back to her friend, Seth Geary, and swallowed dryly, "I'm coming."

She took another look at the dead woman before swivelling around to crawl back up the rocks and join Seth.

"I'm feeling good about today." Seth said as Nina approached him, "Your idea about how we can sneak into the hotel's kitchen is a good one. Let's just hope it works."

"It'll work." Nina pursed her lips, "It's got to."

Seth handed Nina a poncho, as he was already adorning one. He smiled shortly at her before walked down to the fence with Nina in tow.

When the two got to the fence, he turned to her, gesturing his hand out as he spoke, "Alright, you draw their attention over there, put 'em down while I grab a few we put down yesterday over there. In case any wash up on shore, draw them to you, got it?"

"Got it." Nina slid the poncho over her head before taking the pickaxe from Seth. She then stepped up to the side of the fence closest to the cliff, "Hey!" She shouted, banging the pickaxe against the chain link fence.

Immediately, two of the biters dragged themselves over to Nina. They pressed themselves against the fence, masticating their jaws. She continued to shake the fence with her axe, "Hey! Come here!"

It did not take long for the other two biters to join the huddle in front of her.

Seth went to work, using a cable cutter, he snapped open a bottom panel of the fence and slid the two sides wide enough to slide two biter bodies through the opening,

Nina glared at the biters while they struggled, pressing harder against the chains, using their fingers to rock back and forth. She slowly brought the axe up and began to pop them one by one through the fence.

Seth let out a small grunt as he dragged another body through the fence. Three should be enough, he told himself. He quickly began to use zip ties to close the fissure in the fence. He then got to his feet and stepped back, admiring his work, "So far, so good."

Nina came up behind him, not saying anything. She knelt down beside a biters body and withdrew a pocketknife from her back pocket. She swiftly stabbed the biter in the stomach before tearing open the torso to reveal the blackened innards.

Seth followed pursuit with another biter.

Nina wrinkled her nose, "I don't think I'll ever get over this smell."

"Not a fan?" Seth said sarcastically, "Thought about turning it into a perfume—Eau de Biter." He said with a mocking French accent, "I'll have the ladies _dying_ to get to me." He began to rub the innards on his poncho, "Get it?"

Nina dug her hands deep into the corpse before wiping herself down with the dark red goo, "You're so stupid, Seth."

They stood in unison and helped each other with dousing the back of their ponchos with biter blood; they wanted to be extremely thorough.

"I've got the bags and guns in the truck," Seth stated, "I say we drive about half a mile out and then walk from there."

Nina licked her lips, nodding, "Sounds like a plan." She smiled softly at him, "I have a good feeling about today."

* * *

Aboard the _Abigail,_ Madison Clark banged her fist on the bathroom door, her frustration growing, "Do you hear me? Are you out of your mind, Nick?"

"Sorry," Nick said nonchalantly through the door.

'I swear if you do that again I will leave you in the god damn ocean!" Maddie chided as Nick stepped out of the bathroom, "I shit you not!"

Nick shrugged, starting to making his way down the hall, "I thought I heard something."

"What? What could you hear?"

Nick shook his head, making his way into the room he shared with Chris and Alicia, "I don't know. Something bumping the hull."

"Yeah, well, you almost got yourself killed. You almost got Travis killed."

Nick started to examine the size of a starch white shirt hanging beside a bed when he turned back to his mother, "We're still trying to help people, aren't we?"

Maddie closed her eyes and exhaled, "Yes. People we can see."

Before Nick could respond, Travis's voice called from the doorway, "Maddie? We

found the logbook to that boat. We've got a problem." He moved his eyes to meet Nick's gaze.

* * *

Maddie followed behind Travis as they made their way onto the bridge to find Strand, Salazar, and Ofelia.

"San Diego's dead." Travis said, making his way over to the navigational system and threw down the logbook in front of Strand.

Salazar approached him, "How bad?"

Maddie came up from behind Strand, "It's gone."

"Wait, wait, wait, " Strand sat up, shaking his head in denial.

"What do you mean gone?" Salazar furrowed his brow.

"It's burned, the military burned it down." Maddie said as she opened the logbook to show the entry to Strand, " According to this, the _Leanne_ just came from the south, right there." She stepped back to let Strand get a look at the log.

"Wait a minute, I thought you said San Diego was safe." Ofelia swallowed her panic.

"I wouldn't take this as gospel." Strand reassured everyone, he sat back down and began to flip through the pages of the book, and "Did they even try to dock? Did they go ashore? How do they know?"

"The logs are clear. The last entry was yesterday—what is there to doubt?" Travis said, putting his hands up to reiterate his statement.

"If we're going to San Diego, we're going to need to know what's there." Maddie cut in, trying not to sound worried.

"Right now I'm trying to focus on what's about to be _here_. And what kind of weapon would you suppose would be big enough to sink that boat?"

"Fifty calibre machine gun,' Salazar answered immediately.

"Military grade." Strand stood, "The kind of weapon that would only be mounted on a larger vessel." He leaned up to point toward a boat bleeping on the radar system.

"You sure it's following us?" Travis asked.

"I have zigged and I have zagged. Its course corrects every time." Strand stroked his chin, trying not to look too worried.

"It could be them." Salazar added.

"Or it could be Alicia's radio crush for all we know," Strand countered, "Which is why we don't talk to strangers." Strand purposefully glared at Maddie before continuing to speak, "Whoever it is, we're not loosing it. And it's faster."

"Fine. Where do we go?" Ofelia spoke up, throwing the logbook down on the dashboard, "What do we do now?"

Strand picked up a map and brought it over to a table, "We hide. We'll loose them on the radar if we stick to the coast." He pointed to an island, "This one has a cove."

"Well, sure, so does this one." Travis nodded, putting his finger down on another, "Just as deep. And this is a wild life refuge, there'll be a ranger station there."

"Which will probably be a bad bet." Strand looked at Travis.

"Sure but a rangers station is going to have short wave radios, supplies…"

Strand began to laugh, shaking his head 'no'.

Travis continued, "We could gather information."

"Then that's where we go." Maddie spoke up, glaring at Strand.

Strand eyed around at the group, knowing he had no choice in the matter by this point, "Catrina Island it is."

* * *

Seth wiped the sweat off his brow, feeling nervous, as they got closer to the resort. The stench of the dead carried in the wind, their moans grew louder. He craned his head to look at Nina, "You think as long as we smell like 'em, we'll be able to roll a cart out?"

Nina kept her voice low, keeping her eyes forward, "I don't see why not. Worse case, we fill the bags and go back for a second trip tomorrow. We have plenty of ponchos, and I don't see a lack of bodies."

"Good point," Seth let out a muffled laugh, "I think I might be dead if it wasn't for you."

"No, you _would_ be dead if it wasn't for me."

Seth remained quiet, reminded that he would be biter meal if she had not rescued him. After his father died, he had ventured too close to the resort with little to no protection when she emerged from the approaching herd like an angel in disguise. She had learned to immerse herself in biter blood to remain hidden and had rubbed enough of the scent on him to allow them to escape safely. And it was this very notion that they were able to make this mission to grab as many supplies as they could from the resort's hotel.

* * *

Nina shifted her eyes left and right, seeing the alleyway was void of anything besides trash. She used a crowbar to pry open the exit door into the kitchen, "One of them might have heard that so be prepared." She glanced back at Seth before slipping through the door.

Seth followed pursuit and was met with an industrial looking kitchen, it smelled of rotting food and soiled milk. He turned his flashlight on, despite the lights flickering above them; any moment the lights could go out for good. He eyed around the empty kitchen once more, looking for anything useful.

Nina gestured her head at catering cart and then pointed her finger in the direction of a storage area.

Seth nodded, slowly dragging his feet over to the cart, being cautious in case a biter emerged from behind a counter.

Nina made her way over to the dry storage, thankful it was still stocked.

Seth rolled the cart over to her, the two worked diligently to fill the cart with as much as they could with food, water and other kitchen supplies. Nina also found a box of Sterno fuel cans, a few catering cooking trays, and a battery-operated cooker. She also stuffed a package of paper towels on the bottom of the cart.

"I think we got all we could get on this trip." She whispered to her friend.

Seth nodded in agreement, amazed with how much they had managed to squeeze onto the cart.

Nina pushed the cart in the direction of the exit doors they came through, being very careful as to not knock anything over.

* * *

As the two rolled the cart down the alleyway, Seth froze when he saw a small heard stepping toward them at a sluggish pace. For a moment he forgot he was in camouflage, he shook his head and pulled the cart again. He tried to keep his eyes forward hoping none of the dead noticed them..

Amongst the heard was a little girl. She moaned, dragging her bare feet against the pavement. If it was not for the blood on her chin and the large bite mark on the top of her shoulder she looked completely innocent. She paid no attention to Seth or Nina as she went past them, she just continued stepping forward aimlessly with the others.

Nina bit her lip, it was hard seeing someone so young become a biter but this was reality now there would be more horrific things to face. She halted in her tracks when she noticed a door that read: POOL STORAGE –EMPLOYEES ONLY.

Seth whirled back curious as to why Nina stopped.

"Hold up, I want to check in there," She said, already making her way over to the door with a crow bar in hand.

"Why? What for?" He whispered out to her, catching up.

Nina did not answer as she pried the door open and slipped in through the crack she made. She brought the flashlight into her mouth and went over to a shelf lined with pool shock.

Seth glowered as he watched Nina stacking the packets under an arm, "You plan on cleaning some pools?"

Nina returned the stare a moment before returning to her task. She moved to rummage through another area of the storage facility. After grabbing a bottle of bleach she then headed back to the cart.

Seth shook his head, finding Nina to be peculiar, "We should head back now or else we'll get caught in the dark."

* * *

The sun was beginning to set as Travis made his way out on deck to find his son, "Chris?"

He stopped in his tracks when he caught site of somebody standing on the backend of the boat, "Chris?" He stepped over and sat down on the stairs, "We're going to be landing soon. Get away from what's out there, catch our breath." He gestured out to the sea, waiting for his son to respond, "It looks like a good place. It'll be safer."

Chris took a step forward, putting his hands into the pocket of his hoodie before turning to face his father, "How do you know?" He shook his head and began to walk to the other stairs to leave.

Travis sat there rather hurt by his son's actions. He had tried to let Chris have his space while he dealt with the death of his mother. Travis quickly speculated that it was starting to become an almost lethal combination of raging teenage hormones with the grief of loosing a loved one. He closed his eyes, beginning to feel the sadness of missing Liza. He knew their marriage had been far from perfect which led to their divorce but he still loved her. He hoped that Chris would come around and eventually understand everything.

* * *

Night had fallen and the _Abigail_ was approaching closer to the Island. Travis, Maddie and Strand all stood around the navigational board, their eyes glued to see if the other vessel had lost them.

Maddie looked up and noticed a flickering light on shore, "You see that?"

She stepped around Travis and went over to starboard window to get a better look, "Look! Is that … is that a campfire?"

Strand rolled his eyes, "And what do you suppose somebody is doing? Sitting around, making s'mores, and singing Kumbaya?"

"Not funny." Maddie chided, seeing the fire beginning to die out.

* * *

Strand docked the _Abigail_ on a large jetty but remained on the bridge watching Salazar tie the boat off.

Chris, Alicia and Nick stood on the deck looking around at each other, second-guessing this decision to go ashore this late at night.

Maddie jumped down onto the dock and looked up, "Are you coming?"

"I'll stay." Strand shouted down at them, "Make sure our radar friends pass us. When he's gone, we're gone."

Salazar turned around, "Then Ofelia and I will keep you company."

"Solitude doesn't bother me." Strand peered down with a disproving look.

"We insist."

Strand threw his hands up and acted as if he was shoving the idea entirely as he whirled around to go back to the bridge.

* * *

Travis led the group onto shore until they reached what appeared to be a large farmhouse. He continued to lead the group up some stairs and closer to the house.

Chris took his flashlight and shined it high, "Oh, look, doesn't look like anyone's home. " He stated with a sarcastic tone, "Can we go back to the boat now?"

Travis gyrated back to give his son a hard look before continuing on.

As they stepped out onto a clearing, Alicia swivelled her flashlight around until she spotted a large, dark, pile near the edge of the lawn. She gasped, "Oh god…"

"What? What is it?" Maddie turned around, thinking some infected were emerging from the bushes.

Everyone stopped and shined their flashlights in the direction Alicia was pointing hers. It revealed a mound of chard bodies with smoke still emitting from the pile.

"Explains the fire," Maddie spoke aloud.

Nick was reminding of the bodies he saw on the military compound back in L.A.

"This is a good sign, means people are here." Travis nodded, feeling more confident about his decision to go ashore. He turned around and inched closer to the house, "Hello?"

"Travis!" Maddie chided under her breath, beginning to second-guess the notion of interacting with new people, "What are you doing?"

"Hello?" Travis raised his voice, trying to sound braver than he actually was, "We know you're in there."

"Travis, stop it!" Maddie whispered harshly.

Nick stepped around Travis and started to make his way around to see if anyone was slipping out from the side of the house. He looked back at the group, shaking his head, "I don't think anyone's here."

"Then who burned the bodies?" Alicia raised her eyebrows.

Travis continued to plead with the house, "We just need information. We're not a threat. We're not sick. We're just… we need help!"

"Travis, no ones here. Let's go back to the boat." Maddie sighed, approaching Alicia to turn her around so they could return to the _Abigail_.

Chris snorted under his breath, "...waste of time..." He pivoted around and began to head back to the stairs.

Travis remained stationary; truly believing someone was in the house.

Maddie looked back at her boyfriend, "Travis, come on, let's go. Nobody is here anymore."

Travis opened his mouth to object but reluctantly began to follow the group. Suddenly the door creaked open causing everyone to look back to witness someone coming out of the house, "Why are you people here? What do you want?"

Nick shone his flashlight up to see a young blond man not too much older than himself. He held his free hand up, seeing the man was holding a shotgun, "We come in peace, man."

Travis stepped forward, "Really, we mean no harm. We're in need of help—"

"Were any of you bit?" The young man narrowed his eyes, making his way further out into view.

"No, no, nothing like that." Travis interjected.

"We saw a fire—we were on the water." Madison pointed back in the direction of the beach.

"Damn," the young man began to lower his gun, mumbling more to himself, "knew we shouldn't have set fire to them at night."

"We?" Travis's eyes followed the man's gun, wondering how many others were hiding in the house.

A long silence swept over them, everybody seemed afraid to make a move. Finally, working up the nerve, Travis stepped forward holding his hand out, "Travis, Travis Manawa."

The young man looked down at Travis's hand before bringing his eyes up to meet Travis's, "Seth Geary." He lowed the gun to his side and reached out to shake hands, "So, what is it that you needed help with?"

"We had to drop anchor," Travis looked back at his family for a moment, "it's no safer at sea than it is on land."

"You can't stay here," Seth eyed around at the group, feeling sympathy because over half the people standing before him were people close to his own age, "But we can give you a nights rest or two."

"Thank you," Travis let out a sigh of relief, "We just need to get our bearings and then we'll be gone. You have nothing to fear from us."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Seth responded.


	2. Yōkai

Back on the _Abigail_ , Ofelia Salazar stared out at the island, a blanket draped around her shoulders, watching and waiting for any signs of the others return. She could hear footsteps behind her and knew they belonged to her father, "Will we stay?"

Salazar sighed heavily, "This is only temporary."

Ofelia looked up at him, frowning, 'We have no other place to go. Why don't we just stay here?"

Salazar kept his gaze forward, trying not to give in to her request, "We would have to be invited."

"Will we really?"

"Yes." He responded coldly.

"That's very polite of us." She snapped, turning her face up at him with an annoyed stare.

"Did you take your antibiotics?" He met her gaze.

"Yes." She exhaled with exasperation as she got to her feet, "I'm starting to understand this world better.

Salazar closed his eyes for a brief moment; "After all that your mother and I did to try and protect you from a certain life…this is not the world that you were supposed to know."

"It's okay, its good, " Ofelia turned her back to the shore, her eyes lifting up to glare at her father, "Understanding this world, it helps me understand you."

Salazar gulped, unsure of how to respond.

"It's cruel." Ofelia curled her bottom lip under her top and stepped away to get onto the boat.

* * *

Seth let the five people into the house one by one; he kept his voice low, "Take a seat, wherever you'd like." He nervously gestured out to the living room, scratching the top of his head, growing nervous. It had been a while since he had interacted with other—living—people. He moved his hand to rub his eyes and dropped it down to his mouth, wondering how Nina was going to handle this.

Nick immediately went over to a sofa, looking back to the others to follow pursuit.

Alicia bit her lip and went over to sit on a chaise longue, feeling nervous about the situation.

Chris stayed behind Travis and Maddie; his eyes followed Nick and Alicia. He slid his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and shifted his eyes over to Seth.

Travis and Maddie remained stationary, eyeing around the dimly lit sitting room that had candles littering it. There was soft music playing over a radio coming from somewhere within the house

Seth pressed his lips together, giving a nod, "Let me go get Nina." He went over to sliding French doors and slid one of the doors wider to slip half his body into the room to talk to whoever was in the dining room.

" _What_?" A young woman's voice emitted from the room, "You just...invited them in?"

"Well, yeah, they—"

"You're so stupid, Seth." She cut him of with a raise of pitch in her voice as she slid the doors open to stand in the doorframe to look out at the five people, "Go. Leave, all of you."

Nick craned his head, eyeing the young woman up and down. The woman had an exotic look to her; she appeared to possibly be Latina. From the look etched on her face, though, she did not seem happy to see them.

"Nina," Seth stepped around the young woman, "come on, they just a need a place to stay for a night, maybe two, and then they'll leave." He stared over at Travis and Maddie.

Travis cleared his throat, nodding his head, "As I told Seth, we just need to get our bearings and then we'll be gone."

Nina rolled her eyes, pivoting around to Seth, shaking her head, "They are _your_ problem _."_ She poked her finger out at him before going back into the dining room sliding the doors to leave half a foot of space between them.

"Is it just the two of you?" Maddie let the question slip off her tongue, wondering if they were a couple. It irked her more than it should have to see two teenagers alone on an island given the circumstances of their current world.

"Uh, yeah," Seth began to nod, eyeing everyone warily, "Don't mind her. It's just, uh, it's been a while since we've seen people."

Alicia exhaled deeply, meeting eyes with Chris; the two exchanged solemn glances.

"So, um, does anyone want a drink?" Seth broke the awkward silence that had settled in the room.

* * *

Nick sat reclined on the sofa, skimming through a book about oil paintings he had found on the coffee table. His mother and Travis were upstairs talking with Seth.

Chris sat with his elbow resting on the arm of the chair, his index finger pressed into the side of his temple, his thumb resting against his cheek. His other arm held a glass of wine in his lap. He stared coldly ahead, deep in thought.

Alicia let her glass linger near her lips as she thought about Matt; she kept her eyes glued to the floor.

Nick brought his eyes up from the book to stare at the two for a moment. He shut the volume, "Hey, I am going to go look around, you guys want to come with?"

Alicia was stirred from her thoughts, "Uh, yeah, I'll come." She placed the wine glass down on the end table and got to her feet to join Nick at the front door.

Nick looked back to Chris, 'Hey man, you coming?"

"I'm good." Chris gazed over at the two with a pout.

"Look you don't have to talk or anything but it is better to be with people" Nick stated, worried by Chris's state of mind at the moment.

"It's okay." Chris exhaled, taking the last gulp from his wine glass.

"If Travis or my Mom come down wondering where we are, tell them Nick and I went for a walk." Alicia said softly before leaving the house with her brother to get some fresh air.

Chris barely nodded, realizing he would be alone for once. He lifted the glass to his lips having forgot it was empty. He made his way over to the kitchen and briskly went straight to the counter where the bottle of wine sat. He refilled his glass more than he should have and began to take large sips. After a moment he strolled back into the living room, observing the knickknack items spread across the den when his dark eyes fell onto the doors to the dinning room. He stepped over to it and slid the door open wider, neglecting to remember that Nina was in there.

Nina tilted her head to see who had entered the room, rolled her eyes and went back to doing her previous task.

Chris's brow creased as he watched her pack toilet paper rolls with a thick brown paste; one end of the roll was covered in toilet paper held by a rubber band. She then proceeded to pull three matches from a box and placed them in the open end of the tube. After she finished one, she placed it in a small pile and went onto the next one.

"What're you making?" Chris broke the silence, taking a sip of his wine.

"Smoke bombs," She responded coolly while she packed another tube. She could feel him staring at her while she worked, and it irritated her. She exhaled sharply, twirled her head in his direction and met his stare of interest. "So are you just going to keep standing there or did you want to help?"

Chris nodded, slowly approaching the table, "Can I?" He slid into the chair and waited for the girl to instruct him on what to do.

* * *

Strand stood hovering over the navigational dashboard, trying hard to ignore Salazar who was staring at him intently. He grumbled, "What the hell is taking them so long?"

"You got somewhere you got to go?" Salazar smiled in an almost mocking manner.

"I don't like sitting on my behind. Target practice on a ten million dollar boat." Strand retorted.

"Hm, _your_ ten million dollar boat."

"What?" Strand glared at Salazar with conniving eyes.

"You said 'A' ten million dollar boat like this boat is not yours."

"It's mine." Strand wrinkled his brow with a harsh stare, "Don't you worry."

"I'm not worried. I'm curious though," Salazar spoke meticulously, "What were you planning on leaving behind?" He rummaged through a few maps sitting on the dashboard.

"Ha!" Strand let out an airy laugh, "I bring you to my house, take you on my boat, where's the trust viejo?" He went over to shut the compartment Salazar was rummaging through, "Why would I leave behind those that I brought with me?"

"Resources" answered Salazar, "You only have so much. You didn't plan on so many."

Strand stared down at the man with pursed lips, "We'll do fine. We have water and you're one hell of a fisherman."

* * *

"Where'd you learn how to make these?" Chris asked, continuing to pack the last roll.

Already finished with hers, Nina placed both elbows on the table and leaned in, biting the inside of her lip before answering, "It's basic chemistry…but, um, my cousin taught me how to make this. Ronin and his friends use to love making those stupid videos…" She trailed off, regret shone in her eyes at the memory of him. She shook her head, glancing down at the glass of wine, "Is there any more of that wine still left?"

She got up from the table before Chris could answer and hastily left the room.

Chris sat there for a minute before he grabbed his wine glass and joined her in the kitchen.

Nina stood with her back against the counter, deep in thought. Suddenly, she swallowed down her drink in one take before twisting her torso around to slam the glass on the counter, "You want anymore?"

Chris shook his head, seeing he still had wine left in his own glass, "I'm good."

Nina turned to face Chris, leaning back against the counter again, crossing her arms across her chest. Her cheeks grew warm as the shot of wine started to hit her.

"Why do you make them?" Chris asked abruptly, going over to place his glass on the kitchen table, feeling awkward at the silence that swept over them, "Do they work against the infected?"

"Is that what you call them? The infected?" Nina crinkled her forehead, failing to answer his questions.

"Yeah," Chris answered, "What do you call them?"

"Seth and I call them biters," Nina said, a short smile played at her lips as a memory came to mind, "My aunt called them yōkai"

"Yo—what?" Chris frowned, the word sounded completely foreign to him.

"Uh, yōkai are part of Japanese lore," Nina explained, speaking with a distant tone, "It's a vague term but generally they are spirits of the dead who walk among the living with no place to go…I'm beginning to think my aunt was onto something…isn't that what the biters are? Empty shells of who they once were?"

Chris got real quiet; his eyes stared aimlessly at the grains of wood on the table. He contemplated her words, gulping at the thought of his mother becoming an empty shell had his father not shot her. He knew there had been nothing he could have done to save her, what irked him was the fact he never got to say goodbye. His father had acted without consulting him and it did not seem fair. He cleared his throat, rubbing the tip of his shoe back and forth into the floor tile, unsure of why he was confessing this to Nina, "I, uh, I lost my mom a few days ago."

Nina respired slowly before she forced down the lump in the back of her throat. She glanced over at Chris with a serious expression, "Pull yourself together, we've all lost somebody. That's just how the world works now." She paused for a moment to lick her lips, her voice softened, "It gets easier though."

* * *

Seth Geary sat at a desk in the study, hovering over a map of the United States. He stared intently at Madison and Travis, who sat in individual reading chairs, as he spoke about the island's downfall.

"After the report about the shooting, no ferries were allowed in or out. The last ferry sank off the coast, ran afoul of the rocks. And being an island, the sickness spread fast. It was utter chaos; people were killing each other to get on whatever boats were left..." His voice trailed as his eyes skimmed back and forth as if he were reliving a horrific scene in his head, "As far as I can tell, Nina and I are the only living ones left."

"Jesus." Travis gaped, trying to comprehend the pandemonium. He recalled the riots in the streets after he had rescued Chris and Liza and the anarchy they underwent there.

"The St. George's—the people who lived _here_ , at the ranger station, they left on their boat over two weeks ago." Seth continued.

"Why didn't you go with them?" Madison asked, sounding concerned.

"My little brother was sick, and my dad didn't want to leave him behind. My dad was still convinced the military would come to save us. Well the military never came—it's obvious they didn't give a shit about the people on this island."

"I don't think they gave two shits about a lot of things," Maddie commented, "They burned L.A. to the ground and we just learned today that they might have also burned San Diego too."

"Sounds like they did the same in San Francisco; I lost contact with David a few days ago. The park ranger and I kept in contact over the CB until his frequency went dead. Tried reaching other parks but the only one I was able to get in contact with was Rocky Mountain Station—that's the continental divide, that's at least half the country—bang! gone."

Maddie and Travis exchanged worried gazes.

* * *

Nick and Alicia sat in silence on the stairs looking out toward the beach, both staring up at the star filled sky.

"Hey, you want to know what the most underrated perk in the apocalypse is?" Nick spoke up, glancing down at his sister.

"Yeah?" Alicia lowered her eyes to meet her brother's.

"No planes, no noise pollution, no smog," Nick gestured up at the sky, "just stars."

"Yep, well, we definitely stopped the climate crisis." She answered cynically, "Awesome."

Nick shuddered in the cool breeze, looking over at the dark waves, "Things are never going to be normal again."

"Yeah, well, it's the end of times. What'd you expect?"

"It's not the rapture, Alicia." He laughed softly before his face dropped into a serious expression, "It's something else." His spoke placidly, his eyes contracted.

Alicia pursed her lips, beginning to concentrate on the rhythmic noise the waves made as they crashed into the shore, "What do you _think_ it is?"

"I dunno,"Nick thought long and hard about it, the gears in his mind churning slowly, "Hey, you remember that story Mrs. Collins used to make everyone do a report on? The one about the hunter living on the island?"

"Uh, random," Alicia crumpled her nose, "but are you're talking about _The Most Dangerous Game_?"

"Yeah, that one,' Nick smiled to himself, remembering one of the only stories he liked reading in high school, "Maybe…maybe it's like that…and nature has become the hunter forcing us to survive, picking off the weak…and if we can just survive long enough, we win."

"Like some kind of human evolution?"

"Yeah," Nick nodded, keeping his stare on the ocean.

"Wow," Alicia said, sounding very surprised, swallowing her laughter, "coming from you… that is a pretty deep literary analogy."

"Hey!" Nick retorted sheepishly.

Alicia felt a frown tugging at the corners of her mouth as she nodded her head, "Maybe we have become the huntees again and we just got to fight to become the hunters."


	3. Alive

It was dawn as Chris leaned further into the metal railing of the observation deck, his eyes focused on the horizon. He had hardly slept and his eyes wilted. His mind preoccupied with various thoughts; Nina's words had stayed with him all night: 'Pull it together, we've all lost somebody.' He started to feel with greater certainty that those were the words he needed to hear to help mourn the loss of his mother. He was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of the door to the house slamming shut. He turned back and watched Seth, with a pickaxe in hand, making his way toward the beach. Chris jumped down the stairs and started to chase him, "Hey! Where you going?"

"I've got to clear—" Seth stopped himself, being cautious as he stepped down the slop toward the beach, "You can help if you want to."

Chris nearly tripped as he tried to catch up. He looked out into the cove to see the infected collecting at the chain link fence, "What're we doing?"

"Maintenance," Seth stepped up to the fence.

"Where are they coming from?" Chris asked, trying to count how many bodies lay against the fence.

"Mainly the resort, I think, some might have come from the mainland. Who knows, really." Seth steadied the pickaxe in hand, taking a couple of practice swings before slamming it into the skull of a biter. He pulled back, watching it fall with a sickening thud. He stepped back, his blue eyes shifted side to side, "There are more than usual this morning."

He went over to another to take another biter down but stopped himself as he turned to Chris, "You want a turn?"

Chris moved his eyes to the axe and slowly nodded his head as he took the weapon from Seth.

* * *

Travis sighed to himself as he walked down the deck, stepping down onto the dock of the ship after spotting Nick. He looking around as he spoke, "Hey, you seen Chris?"

Nick looked up and back from reading the book about oil paintings he had taken from the house, "What—no. He couldn't got far though, am I right?"

Travis spun around in hopes of catching sight of his son.

"He didn't go that way, he's on the boat or on land." Nick squinted his eyes at the brightness of the sunrise.

"I looked over the boat." Travis exhaled, doing a double take.

"Then he's on shore. You want me to help you find him?"

"No, I'll go." Travis frowned, beginning to stalk off.

"Right. Hey, Travis?" Nick called out, "I can help if you want though, I know at risk youth. I _am_ at risk youth."

Travis twirled around, shaking his head while he picked up his pace

* * *

Chris pulled back his arms, aiming straight for the woman's head. With a grunt he swung the axe straight into her eye socket and watched her plummet onto the pile of bodies. He felt a rush of satisfaction pulsing through him.

"That's good. Temple, socket, and base of skull if their back's to you." Seth nodded, wiping his nose with his fingers.

"How'd you learn this?' Chris asked with admiration.

"I would have thought by now this would be common sense," Seth frowned at Chris's words, wondering just how much in the dark this kid really was, "but uh, my Dad taught me before he died."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Chris spoke sincerely; he adjusted the handle in his hands, "My Mom died a few days ago."

Seth nodded; knowing he did not need to say anything, each knew how each other felt. He decided to change the subject as Chris moved down the fence to put another biter down, "So, uh, I heard you talked with Nina last night."

"Yeah, she's cool," Chris commented, swinging the axe into another skull.

"She's intense," Seth spoke against the wind, his head nodded with his words, "She hasn't opened up much since it all happened. Given the shit she went through, I don't blame her."

Chris recalled Nina's words as he slammed the axe into another skull, watching it thump to the ground, "So, uh, are you and Nina…"

"No, it's not like that." Seth laughed, "We're just friends; she saved my life and I saved hers. And that's that, come on, let's go. There'll be more at lunch time." Seth began to walk back to the slope.

"Hey! There's one more," Chris looked back at the fence seeing another infected dragging themselves to the fence.

"Don't worry about it, we'll get it later."

"No, I got it." Chris took the axe from Seth's hand and returned to the fence. He dragged the axe across the chain link fence, taunting the dead man.

"Chris! What are you doing?" Travis approached his son with a worried expression.

"Being of use," Chris kept his back to his father, hitting the axe against the fence. He instantly felt peeved by his father's presence.

"Come back to the boat," Travis pleaded.

"I will." Chris snapped, he was still angry with his father.

"Come on, Chris, please."

"In a minute!" He yelled back at his father, readying the axe before slamming it straight into the infected's eye socket.

"There. Done." Chris glared at his father as he passed him to go back up the slope.

* * *

Madison stood outside the house, her arms crossed over her chest, and her stare fixated on a pile of charred infected. Her mind shifted to thinking about her late husband, remembering the day the funeral home called her to tell her his ashes were ready for pick up. She drove around for hours with the box contemplating how she wanted to properly dispose of them. It seemed cliché but she finally stopped at Emerald Bay in Laguna Beach. She reminisced on how she had cried heartfelt tears, watching the waves carry his ashes out to sea, as the reality hit her that he was gone. It still pained her that she was never given the chance to say goodbye. She contemplated that many of the bodies lying before her were once people who likely also never got the chance to say goodbye to their loved ones. It was harsh and cruel but it was becoming the reality now for most people. She drew herself from the depths of her thoughts at the sound of Travis coming up to her.

"Maddie?" Travis stepped closer to her, a worried expression etched on his face, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's up?" She slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, twisting her neck slowly to face him.

"We have a problem," He started, looking back toward the direction of the beach for a moment before returning his stare on his girlfriend, "down by the fence line."

"What do you mean?" Madison narrowed concerning eyes.

"I mean, the infected, they are washing up on shore…collecting at the fence—"

Madison cut him off, "I know, there are hundreds more at the resort, Seth told me."

Travis nodded, trying to clear the image of his son piercing the infected in the head with little to no effort, "Maddie, I saw Seth and Chris—the way Chris handled the pickaxe, he just…he'd …I'm worried about him. He's been so estranged lately, you can feel the resentment. I just…" He trailed off, shocked with how quick Chris was adjusting to this world.

Madison dropped her head beginning to understand, she envisioned how she would explain this to a parent of one of her students, she tilted her head back up to look at him, "He just lost his mother, Travis. Maybe it's his way of expressing himself," She exhaled a deep breath, "And this is his way of working it out."

Travis considered her words before commenting, "It can't be like _this_ , Maddie. It's not healthy."

"Be thankful he was unleashing his anger on the dead rather than the living."

* * *

Back on the _Abigail_ **,** on the bridge, Daniel Salazar beat on his chest as he hummed a rhythmic tune aloud. He convinced himself he was purposefully trying to annoy Strand so he would leave the room which would grant him time to look around.

Victor Strand sat comfortably in the captain's chair with his feet propped up on the dashboard, his arms crossed over his lap, and his eyes closed behind sunglasses. He tried with all his might to ignore Salazar. The man was annoyed him more as time passed on, "You hover over me like the Spector of Death, Daniel."

"Maybe I am." Salazar beat on his chest, "Or a guardian angel."

Strand rolled his eyes, about to comment when the dashboard began to beep. He leaned forward, smirking to himself, "Our friend is gone. We sail with the tide."

He reached forward and grabbed the keys out of the ignition and left the room.

Salazar went back to beating his chest, listening, and waiting until Strand was out of earshot before he started to rummage through the room. He opened drawers and looked under cushions in a desperate to find anything that would shine a light on Strand's motives. As he moved to the farthest seat, he discovered a hidden locked compartment. He withdrew a pocketknife from his back pocket and began to pick the lock. He strained his ear, listening intently for a 'click' noise. As soon as the compartment was open, he threw the contents on the floor. There was a magnum wrapped out in a blanket and several maps. Salazar furrowed his brow, picking up the map, "Mexico?"

* * *

Madison walked beside Travis, heading back to the boat, "We should take Seth and Nina with us."

"They have supplies, water, food, and they even have power… why would they choose to come with us?"

Madison stopped in her tracks, "How long do you think that'll last? How long before the infected make their way up here?"

Travis remained silent, his eyes shifting back and forth over Madison's face. He started to catch onto what she was proposing.

"They are just biding time until it all goes bad." She continued.

"Whose to say _we're_ not biding time out _there_." Travis countered, pointing out toward the beach.

"Where we land next could be safe. What we find could save us, _all of us_ , we don't know." She paused, catching her breath, "My god, Travis, they're just teenagers—we can't keep leaving people behind."

She shook her head starting to walk away.

"What if they don't want to leave?" Travis called out after her.

Madison swirled around, taking a step backwards, her voice carried in the breeze, "We need to give them that choice."

* * *

Alicia sighed internally while music filled her ears through her iPod. She brought her cerulean eyes up to scan the landscape as she made her way to the farmhouse. As she stepped out into the yard, her eyes skimmed the area until they landed on Seth. He was loading the back of an old red pickup truck with chicken wire. Alicia walked up to him; she pulled one earbud out of her ear when she spoke, "What're you up to?"

"Chores," Seth answered, picking up the last roll of chicken wire that was leaning on the side of the truck and chucked it on top of the pile.

"What kind of chores?" Alicia asked, tucking a piece of loose hair behind her ear while taking out the other ear bud.

Seth twisted back in her direction as he placed a rusty green toolbox in the bed of the truck, his head bobbed slowly, seeing she was curious "I've got to go out and mend the fences, you wanna come with?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Alicia replied, rolling her earphones around her iPod and slipped it into the pocket of her jacket. She saw no harm in joining Seth because they were not leaving the island for another few hours.

* * *

A small herd of about twenty biters strolled up to a rusty fence having followed a mule deer. The deer attempted to dart away when another seven biters blocked its path cornering it against the fence. Immediately the herd swarmed the deer and began to devour the animal alive. On the other side of the fence were a heard of bison casually grazing about twenty yards away. Two of the biters stumbled to their feet and began to press themselves against the fence having caught a whiff of the bison making their way toward the watering hole. It was not long before majority of the herd began to press against the fence making it rock violently.

About a mile away another heard of biters leisurely wandered down the dirt road Seth and Nina had driven down to get to the resort.

* * *

Alicia sat in the parked truck surprised it had been less than a five-minute drive to the fences. She jumped out from the passenger's side and joined Seth at the back of the truck.

Seth grabbed two rolls of chicken wire; "I've been coming out here every day to reinforce this fence. So far I've only managed to get this far." He pointed toward a section.

Alicia followed his finger, seeing from where they were standing was about 50 yards from the coast. The direction behind them showed the fence stretching for miles over the hills.

"Mind grabbing the tool box for me?" Seth said, making his way toward the fence.

Alicia clutched the handle of the box and hoisted it by her side. She dashed down the slope of the terrain to catch up with Seth. Her eyes travelled beyond the fence, able to see the marina in the far distance. She could see people, looking like stick figures, walking about, "Are those people out there?"

Seth squinted his eyes, focusing his vision, still unravelling a roll of chicken wire, "They _were_ people. I figure there is between 150-200 biters over there."

"What happened?" Alicia asked out of curiosity.

"Same thing that happened to Nina and I," Seth pushed the chicken wire against the chain link fence, "Left behind after the boats left. The last ferry that departed sank off the coast, probably added to the numbers."

"Oh," Alicia blinked.

Seth continued his task while he spoke, "Don't worry, haven't seen any this far out. They seemed to roam around the resort like the slug brains that they are."

* * *

Nick and Chris were poking about the garage connected to the house. They had gone exploring to pass the time before the _Abigail_ set sail that evening.

Nick opened a chest freezer surprised to see it was broken and filled with guns and other melee weapons, "Looks like somebody's been stocking up for a while."

"Stocking up on what?" Chris asked, opening cabinets over a large workbench. He stopped when he opened one with water bottles scattering the shelves, "Jackpot."

Nick let the lid fall back in place on the freezer before pivoting around to see what Chris had found.

Chris grabbed a bottle, not caring it was warm, twisted the cap off and gulped down over half the bottle before he spewed it everywhere.

Nick frowned, "What? What is it?"

Chris crinkled his face into disgust, he held the bottle half an arm lengths away, coughing the tepid liquid from his throat, "That's not water."

"What?" Nick repeated himself, strolling over to meet Chris at the workbench, "What do you mean it's not water?" He saw all the bottles were clearly labeled 'Crystal Geyser' (a legitimate water company).

Chris began to worry that he just poisoned himself, "It taste like rubbing alcohol."

Nick raised his eyebrows, intrigued now. He grabbed the bottle from Chris and brought it up to his lips. Taking in a sharp inhale, he took a sip, "It taste … it taste like vodka."

Chris made an 'O' with his mouth, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, relieved he had not drank something septic.

"What are you doing?" A woman's voice came from behind them. They turned in unison to see Nina standing there with an irritated look.

Nick put the bottle down on the counter, mustering an innocent grin, "Nothing, just looking around—"

"Getting into a stash of alcohol doesn't look like 'nothing'" Nina cut him off, making her way around the two of them to grab a hatchet off an adjoining wall lined with various work tools, "Aren't you people supposed to be leaving soon?"

Chris blinked a few times, his vision blurred. He raised his eyebrows as a dizzy sensation swept through his body.

"We are, this evening." Nick answered, watching Nina take a bottle of lighter fluid out of a cabinet, "So, what are _you_ doing? Need a hand with anything?"

"I'm clearing bodies," Nina started to walk out of the garage, "If you two want to be useful, grab the pickaxe and catch up." She called over her shoulder, walking out of the room.

Chris immediately remembered how Seth had told him more of the infected washed ashore in the afternoon. He side glanced Nick before he grabbed the pickaxe and left the room.

Nick puckered his lips, debating if he wanted to help in the chore. His curiosity won, and he quickly trailed behind them.

* * *

Victor Strand sat below decks in the engine room, his eyes searching the room to make sure no one was listening or watching. He held a satellite phone to his ear, "Yes, it's me. It's all clear now. What's the latest you can push it?" He waited for a response before he continued, "I'll be there. I will be there."

He nodded to himself and hung up promptly with a growing grin.


	4. How to Save a Life

On the ride back to the house, Seth had taken a detour in order to grab some supplies from a souvenir shop at a visitation centre situated on a rocky hill.

Alicia stood at the edge of the observation deck, her eyes roaming the horizon, and for a moment she almost forgot the world was falling into shambles, "Wow. You weren't kidding. The view really is something."

"Isn't it?" Seth said, turning back in the direction of the shop, "Let's grab what I came for. I don't want to be out here longer than we have to."

Alicia sighed, taking in the view one last time before following Seth.

Seth jerked the door open then propped it open to let the stale air escape; the large skylights naturally lit the store.

"I'm going to go to the stock room, you can come if you want. Or, if you want to look around, that's cool too. Feel free to take whatever you'd like…I won't tell if you won't." He winked with a cheeky grin before he made his way to the back of the store.

Alicia let out a heavy breath as her eyes travelled around the store, she decided to linger around and explore. She moved at a leisurely pace taking in all the various trinkets. She pondered over a few photographs that hung on the walls and observed other typical items you would find at a souvenir shop. She ran her hands through racks of t-shirts not caring she knocked a handful to the ground. She then strode over to a glass counter that made up the cash wrap, she pressed her torso against the case and leaned over to examine the jewellery. She spotted a crystal-encrusted brooch in shape of a bird and it caused her mouth to twitch into a small smile. She tried hard to fight back the smile, thinking how Matt would have found the brooch 'tasteful'. Any trace of a grin faded when she heard sluggish footsteps behind her accompanied with small huffs of breath.

"Seth?" She twirled around and let out a yelp of surprise as an infected with sunken eyes lunged forward with a snapping jaw. She cried again feeling her self being pushed in the direction of the wall; she attempted to dodge the moving corpse but it followed her like a cat chasing a mouse.

"Alicia!?" Seth spirited from the stock room; he grabbed the biter away and swiftly stabbed it in the base of the skull. He staggered back, watching it fall to the carpeted floor, "You okay?"

Alicia brought her eyes up to meet his, nodding frantically, catching sight of another infected quickly stumbling onto Seth, "Watch out!"

He gyrated; his arms instinctively flew up to shield himself, dropping the dagger to the floor in the process. A painful yell escaped his lips as the biters jaw chomped down on his arm, ripping the flesh veraciously. He pushed back, ignoring the pain, shoving his bleeding arm under the biters chin, "Alicia! The knife—grab the knife!"

He continued to shove the infected against the glass case, digging his wounded arm further into the neck. He grunted, letting out a yell of desperation, waving his free arm behind him.

Alicia scrambled, picked up the knife and shoved the handle of the blade into Seth's free hand. She then watched him slam the dagger into the biters temple.

Seth jumped back; his eyes followed the body as it slid off the counter. He immediately put a hand over his gaping wound and applied as much pressure as he could. The blood poured through his fingers, and dripped to the floor. He brought his head up desperately looking around with stern eyes trying to conceal his growing fear.

'Seth…" Alicia breathed with a sharp gasp brushing back strands of hair that had fallen into her eyes.

Seth shook his head, "We've got to go."

He pulled t-shirt off a rack and wrapped it tight around his arm while he walked to the door, "I said let's go! Before more of 'em show up."

* * *

Nina struck two matches against the matchbox and dropped the flaming sticks onto the pile of biters before her. She inhaled deeply as the lighter fluid quickly caught ablaze. She took a step back, pursed her lips and picked the hatchet off the ground. The sound of the old pickup truck could be heard pulling into the carport followed by car doors slamming shut.

Nick tottered on the souls of his feet, also having heard the car approach. He nudged Chris, jerking his head in the direction of the stairs, "Seth must be back which means Alicia is back."

Chris reluctantly trailed behind Nick, glancing back one more time to see the flames spreading over the bodies; the wretched stench filled his nostrils.

As Nina stepped out onto the clearing, she saw Alicia standing on the porch with a troubled expression. She scowled, promenading up to Alicia, "Where's Seth?"

Alicia gulped, the same worried look etched on her face, "He… uh… he got bit."

Nick and Chris approached just in time to catch the last part of what Alicia had said.

"Is he with you? Did he make it back?' Nina asked, an anxious tone growing in her voice.

"Yeah, he's in the house." Alicia pointed back to the door, keeping her body facing forward, she moved her eyes over to Nick and Chris.

Nina brushed past Alicia to go inside.

Nick's brow furrowed, stepping closer to his sister, "How 'bout you? Are you hurt?"

Alicia shook her head, peering up at her brother with a distant look in her eyes, "No, no, he…uh…he saved me."

Nick hugged his sister before going into the house to check on Nina.

Chris and Alicia tailed behind him.

* * *

Seth sat on the couch, reapplying pressure to the blood soaked t-shirt tied around his arm. His eyes stared forward and he continued to remain silent; his mind filled with morbid thoughts. He felt somewhat weak from the loss of blood.

Nick approached the two, watching Nina rummage through her backpack, tossing items next to Seth: a water bottle with the 'Crystal Geyser' label, a feminine pad, a canister of cayenne pepper, and a package of elastic bandage wraps. He sighed sadly, "Nina, you know that's not going to work, right?"

Nina glared over at him, "You don't think I know that?" She snapped.

Alicia contemplated running to get the adults but talked herself out of it—what could _they_ do? Seth's fate was imminent.

Nina mumbled something under her breath as she took her belt off from around her hips and started to strap it around Seth's arm.

"Nina…" Seth tried to keep his composure, "Nick's right, that's not going to work. What're you doing?"

"Saving you." Nina nearly whispered as she tightened the belt above his elbow and got to her feet.

Nick frowned further, twisted his torso to follow Nina, and watched her pick up the hatchet and stride back to her friend.

"Whoa, whoa, what the hell are you doing?" Nick grasped Nina's shoulder, pulling her back.

Nina jerked herself out of his grip, giving him a conical stare, "I'm saving him."

Nick realized what she was going to do and asked her incredulously, "How do you even know that'll work?"

"I don't." Nina retorted; she kept her eyes narrowed, "Now help me keep his arm steady."

Alicia's eyes widened slightly, her voice broke, "You can't be serious."

Chris kept a straight face; amazed Nina had the courage to even consider cutting Seth's arm off. Something about her intrigued him, he wanted to learn more, and he wanted her to teach him to be meticulous in dire situations.

Seth blinked slowly; he began to shake his head, "Nina, don't. It's not worth it." He pulled his arm to his chest, forced himself to swallow and looked over at the other three, "You can't stay here; it's not safe anymore. Take Nina with you and leave."

"No," Nina said through clenched teeth while she reached out for his arm. "Why won't you give me a chance?"

"Nina, no." Seth stated firmly, he shifted back into the couch and lowered his voice to speak directly to Nina, "Even if, for some crazy reason, it works, I'd be a liability."

Nina pursed her lips, closing her eyes to compose herself, she felt tears forming behind her lids. Her expression hardened as she blinked a single tear that cascaded down her cheek, "You're so stupid, Seth."

A breathy laugh escaped Seth's lips. He sniffed, got to his feet and started to stumble over to the corner of the room to a small pile of duffle bags.

"Hey! Sit down before you fall down," Nina chided as she knelt down to shove items back into her backpack, zipped it up, and slung it over her shoulder.

Seth disobeyed and grabbed a duffle bag, "Yo, Chris!" He tossed it in Chris's direction, "Take all the food you can from the pantry in the kitchen."

Chris barely caught it and left to go into the kitchen.

"Seth, sit down." Nina instructed, an irritated tone evident in her voice. She went over to gently shove Seth in the direction of an armchair.

Seth dodged her, stumbled over to Nick and shoved a bag into his chest, "Go to the garage, you'll find a freezer, there'll be weapons in it. Grab as many as you can." He then paced in the direction of the stairs.

Nina blocked Seth's path, "Give me that." She pulled the bag from his hands; she then reached out for his uninjured arm to lead him to the nearest chair. She eyed Alicia, "Stay with him, I'll go upstairs to pack a bag."

* * *

Nick, Alicia, Chris stood by the front door holding overstuffed bags of food, weapons, and other supplies. They all waited while Nina said her goodbyes.

Nina adjusted her backpack on her shoulders; she glanced back at her friend one final time and then promptly left the house.

Seth sat there with a pistol in his lap, his eyes glued to the floor. He licked his lips, memories of his father and younger brother filled his head. He was not going to allow himself to turn into one of those _things_. He would wait until the others left to do the deed.

Once outside, Nick, Chris, Alicia, and Nina froze on the porch, seeing over ten biters roaming the lawn. All of the biters made gnawing motions, and began to drag themselves in the direction of the house.

"Shit," Nina said under her breath, her eyes scanned the yard to spot a path they could use to escape.

"Let's go!" Nick yelled, darting forward to head back to the boat.

The other three tailed behind, confident they could outrun the biters if they hurried.

* * *

The four teenagers boarded the boat, each catching their breath.

"We need to go." Nick huffed as he glanced back in the direction of the dock.

Madison exchanged a look with Travis, approaching them, "What? What happened?"

Travis's dark eyes scanned over the four teens, "Where's Seth?"

"He fell behind." Nina exhaled, keeping her eyes forward, not wanting to look back.

"Mom, we need to leave. Right now. The infected...they've made their way up here…it's not safe anymore!" Alicia raised her voice, eager to leave the island as quickly as possible.

Travis gulped, peering back at the dock, scared at what he saw, "Oh, Jesus…" Several biters were sluggishly making their way down the dock.

"Time to go!" Nick shouted up at the bridge, keeping his eyes plastered on the approaching infected.

Upon hearing yelling, Strand made his way down the stairs, "Madison, what have you done now?"

"We've got to go and we're taking Nina with us." Madison answered with a stern voice.

"No, we do not. We have too many mouths to feed as it is."

"We have room. You're not doing this again. You don't get to decide who lives or who dies." Madison glared at Strand.

"That's exactly what I get to do."

"No!" Nina whipped out a handgun from the pocket of her navy field jacket, and pointed it in Strand's direction, "You're helping me get off this island. Don't make me ask twice." She clicked the safety off.

Salazar held up a small pistol in Nina's direction.

"Daniel, don't." Madison spoke, gesturing her hand for him to lower the gun. She kept her stare on Nina able to see the desperation in the teenager's eyes.

Alicia gulped; she did not believe Nina would actually shoot Strand; it had to be a scare tactic. Then again, she thought, the girl was willing to cut off Seth's arm off in order to save him—what would she do to save herself?

Nick peered over at Strand, "Come on, man. It's just one extra person, she'll die out there." He pointed in the direction of the dock, seeing the biters were getting closer, "She just gave us a bag full of guns, that's gotta count for something." He picked up the duffle bag he had in front of him.

Strand looked out at the infected before rubbing his face up and down, debating it over in his mind. Her braveness struck a chord in him but at the same time he would jeopardizing so much by letting her on. The notion she had given them a bag of weapons made her resourceful, which was something he could use. He stepped over to Nick, "Give me that."

He unzipped the case, peered down at the contents of the bag, and licked his lips. It dawned on him that weapons would become a currency of the new realm; they could be used as another bartering chip into Mexico. His eyes moved over to Nina, "I have officially overfilled my mercy quota. Consider yourself lucky." He turned and headed back up to the bridge, bag in hand.

Nina forced herself to breathe as she lowered the gun, closing her eyes out of relief.


	5. Faze Wave

Nina forced herself to breathe. Her mouth felt dry and her eyes felt heavy. With her arms crossed underneath her head, she stared up at the bunk above her, wondering how long she had been lying there. She started to ruminate when the last time she got a decent amount of sleep was—it's what she had been doing since the world seemed to fall apart. She had not slept since she boarded the _Abigail_.

She rolled over onto her side, facing the wall, and listened intently to her surroundings. The room she shared with Alicia, Chris, and Nick was relatively quiet aside from the humming of the engines and Nick's soft snores. Alicia shifted, murmuring something in her sleep; she slept in the bed above Nina's. Nick slept in the bunk adjacent to Nina's, Chris slept in the top bunk above Nick.

Nina exhaled sharply, rolling over again, her back facing the wall now. She pouted her lips and slowly sat up; she dangled her legs over the edge. She reached into her jacket's inner pocket and withdrew a bottles of pills. She placed unscrewed the top for bottle and poured a few pills into the palm of her hand. She stared down at the orange capsules, and then took one, shoving it into her mouth before she had time to rethink her actions. She put the remaining pills into the bottle. After putting it back into her pocket, she got to her feet in order to leave the room so she could get some fresh air.

The boat suddenly lurched and the sound of the engines ceased. Nina frowned, using the bunk to steady herself for a moment before she went to the door. She looked back into the room and saw the other three were still sleeping. She felt no sense in waking them up and promptly left the room to investigate.

* * *

Strand, Salazar, and Madison all stood next to the dining table exchanging looks. Travis came out from the engine room with blue prints of the yacht in his hands.

"Okay, so, uh, the sea water is what's cooling the engines. No water, the engines overheat. I'm guessing something's blocking the water intake." He said, looking around at the three, and then placed the blue prints down on the table.

"Pull whatever's blocking it and let's get the hell out of here." Strand said matter-of-factly.

"Well, uh, you gotta get under the boat to find out what it is." Travis demurred, looking over the rims of his glasses.

"The sun comes up in a few hours…" Madison said, nodding her head at the idea that they could take care of this problem first thing in the morning.

"I'm not inclined to wait around for someone with a fifty calibre machine gun to roll up on us." Strand replied with conniving eyes.

"It's pitch dark, we don't know what's down there!" Madison glared back at him.

Strand opened his mouth to object when Nina's voice cut him off.

She stood on the opposite side of the room with a troubled expression. "I felt a shudder," Nina started to step over to the table, "Why'd the engines stop?"

Madison began to pace in her direction, she spoke with a calm voice, "It's nothing, sweetie. Just go back to bed, everything's fine." She spoke like a mother would a child. She put her arm around Nina's shoulders, "You feeling seasick again?"

Nina blinked a few times in confusion, "No, well, maybe a little…" She lied, looking up at Madison again, "Seriously, why did the engines stop?"

"Uh," Madison started, guiding Nina to the stairs, feeling it was pointless to continue lying, "it's nothing that can't be fixed. Something's blocking the intake and we're going to fix it first thing in the morning."

"I already told you, Madison, it's getting fixed tonight." Strand cutting in, leaning against the table, "We can shine a light to see what's down there."

Madison turned away from Nina, giving Strand an angry stare. "Should I get you some flippers? You going for a swim?"

Strand sneered, not responding verbally.

"I'll go," Travis interjected, flipping through the blue prints.

"Travis, it's not smart, it's not safe. It's not how we decide things." Madison went over to him with a concerned expression.

"I think your man just decided." Strand raised his eyebrows.

Madison glared complacently in his direction before returning her gaze on her boyfriend, "Travis, wait until day break..."

"Maddie, the boats gotta move."

* * *

Once in the water, Travis felt his heart pumping rapidly, beginning to understand Madison's concern. His breathing increased with the idea he had no clue what could be down there lurking in the water. He shined his flashlight around, nearly choking on his oxygen intake.

As he approached the water intake, he noticed there was the top half of a human body sucked against it, their arm jammed into the pipe.

"Poor bastard," Travis thought to himself, swimming to it cautiously to pull it away.

Suddenly, the infected jerked to life and twisted around. His jaw chomped away at the water, his free hand reaching out to grab Travis.

Travis screamed, dropping the flashlight. The mouthpiece dislodged itself from his lips and his goggles slipped off his face and attempted to float away. He grabbed the googles and began to swim backwards. His free hand searched for the hose to control the buoyancy in order to raise him back to the surface.

His body floated upwards, it was too dark and murky for his unshielded eyes to see anything. The moment he resurfaced, he swam to the deck quickly. It was only after he boarded the _Abigail_ did he feel safe again. He laid on the deck, catching his breath, deciding his best bet at the moment would be to work in the engine room until day broke. Once the sun came out, he could kill the infected and pull it from the intake.

* * *

Travis sat below deck working on the pumps in the engine room. He scrunched his face, finding it difficult to unscrew the filtration system. He grunted, using all the strength he had.

Strand went down the stairs, his eyes narrowed, watching Travis, "How's it going down here?"

Travis sighed, not answering his question, "Pass me that bucket."

Strand looked around until he spotted the bucket; he shoved it in Travis's hand.

Travis placed it underneath the filtration and resumed unscrewing it. Finally, it popped out of place and a nasty, vile smelling fluid poured into the pail.

"Whoa," Strand grimaced, taking a step back, and placed the back of his hand against his nose," That's some nasty shit right there."

Travis coughed, trying to catch his breath against the stench filling his nostrils, "Uh, yeah, it's backing up all the way down those pipes, backing up the whole system."

"Can you fix it?"

"I can try…I gotta—I have to pour that poor bastard out from the intake, pump this sludge out, and see if this filtration system still works." Travis gestured back at the pipes behind him.

Strand sighed heavily, "How long?"

"Ah, well," Travis stood and went over to the binder of blueprints, "I can rebuild a carburettor but boats not really my forte."

"How long?" Strand repeated himself.

Travis glanced back at him, "All day…more or less..I, uh, I gotta feel my way through it. I mean look at this…" He held the binder up, "If that filers gone, we're—"

"We don't have that kind of time. Get it done." Strand began to walk up the stairs.

"Hey man!" Travis raised his voice, "I am _not_ the help!"

Strand rolled his eyes, turning to face Travis, "Clearly. I've upset you; forgive me if I neglect certain niceties in light of our current predicament. You are a skilled technician and a valuable member of this team…now, pretty please, fix the god damn boat." He left quickly, feeling irritated this was happening.

* * *

Dawn had barely broken over the horizon casting a pale morning light out on the ocean. Nina sat on a bench at the back of the boat; she stared aimlessly down at the table. She chewed the nails on her left hand, her right arm leaned against the edge of the table, while her legs vibrated up and down. She zoned out in her thoughts racing through her mind. She had not even noticed that Nick had approached her.

Nick watched her, his brow furrowed as he observed her. He did not want to admit it but she came off as being tweaked out. Or perhaps, he countered himself, she was just anxious about something. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Mm…" Nina barely answered as her body stopped fidgeting. She shrugged her shoulders, her eyes were involuntarily shifting back and forth as her glare remained focused on the table.

"You okay?" Nick repeated himself, tilting his head.

"I'm fine." Nina mumbled, glancing up at him.

"You sure?" Nick contracted his eyes as his forehead creased again. Nina had remained fairly mum since boarding the _Abigail_ and he doubted her uneasiness had anything to do with the seasickness she had been experiencing on and off since yesterday.

Nina closed her eyes and slammed both hands on the edge of the table before letting out a heavy exasperated sigh," _Yes, I'm fine. Will you stop asking?"_

"Okay, okay…" Nick said, still concerned by her demeanour. It suddenly dawned on him—she was feeling guilty over the death of her friend. He exhaled, cautiously taking a seat next to her, "You know there was nothing you could have done to save Seth, right?"

Nina craned her head in his direction, casting a smouldering glare, "You don't know that. He might have lived."

"He didn't seem to think so," Nick stated, moving his eyes to the floor, recalling the events. He did not realize what he said might have offended Nina.

"Seth was stupid. He didn't even try." She scoffed. Not wanting to have this discussion anymore, she shifted from underneath the table in order to stand and walk away before Nick had a chance to respond.

* * *

Later in the morning, below deck, Ofelia Salazar was attending to her wound. She nearly jumped when she heard knocking on the door.

"Busy!"

Salazar burst into the room, oblivious to what she had said, "How are you feeling?"

"Jesus Christ, papa! I'm fine…"

He cast a worried look in her direction, "Let me see…" He reached out to pull the bandage down from the entry wound, "This is infected. Are you taking your antibiotics?"

Ofelia gulped, starting to feel guilty under her father's gaze, "I'm out."

Salazar reached out to press the back of his hand against her forehead. He shook his head, his eyes became full of concern, "You're warm."

Ofelia paced back, wincing as she pulled the sleeve of her tank back over her shoulder, "My shoulders just a little sore. I didn't sleep well, that's all…I'll be fine. I can ask Madison for some stronger meds…I think Nina brought some—"

"No!" Salazar cut her off, "We take care of ourselves."

Ofelia closed her eyes and shook her head, "What do you suggest we do? Go to Walgreens? Pretty sure they're closed."

"Make no mistake, Ofelia." Salazar began to speak in Spanish, "This is a family matter."

"I'm not confused, papa." Ofelia countered, "Madison is our friend and Nina seems harmless."

"If Madison had to choose between her daughter and yourself…who do you think she would choose? This stays with us. Entiendes? Do you understand, Ofelia?"

"Yes, I understand." Ofelia answered him with an exasperated tone.

Before Salazar had a chance to say anything Alicia's voice called out from up above, "Mom!"

* * *

Up on deck, at the back of the boat, Nick, Chris, and Nina sat on the bench. The two boys were busy spooling new line on the fishing poles they each had in their hands.

Nina felt a wave of nausea churn in her stomach as the rocking of the boat became more evident now that it was not moving. She closed her eyes and swallowed back the bile in the back of her throat. She pressed a fist against her mouth, choking back a vile burp.

"You okay?" Nick asked Nina, squinting his eyes against the glare of the sun.

"Yeah, you don't look so good." Chris added, "Feeling seasick?"

Nina side glanced Chris and Nick before she responded, "I'll live."

"Good news is, I think seasickness goes away in about a day or two…" Nick said but he could see she was worked up about something. "You sure you're okay though? You seem tense—"

"You want to know what I think?" Nina cut him off with a retort, "I think you need to stop being so preoccupied with my wellbeing and worry about your own."

Nick let out a fake laugh upon hearing her remark. He then went back to winding the fishing line on the pole with a frown.

Chris pressed his lips together and snorted a stifled chuckle. He eyed Nina again before he also resumed his task.

Alicia peered through the binoculars once more before bellowing out again, "Mom!" She then began to pace down the deck looking for her mother. "Mom! Mom!"

Strand paced up from the stairs from the loading dock, "I know you're not running on my deck."

Alicia stopped in her pacing and held her hands up in confusion, "Jesus, seriously?"

Madison emerged from the dinning area, "Alicia? What's wrong? What is it?"

Salazar towed behind Madison.

Alicia handed the binoculars to her mother. "Look, over there. You see it?"

Madison brought the binoculars to her face, peering through the lenses, "Is that…"

"Suitcases. A lot of luggage."

"Holy shit. Where'd that wash up from?" Madison exclaimed as she lowered the binoculars.

Nick took the binoculars from his mother and looked out in the direction his sister had been pointing.

"We need supplies." Alicia stated.

"Alicia, no." Madison rebuked.

"I've been watching. There's no one there, no infected…all that stuff is just lying there."

"There's infected in the water!" Madison gestured out to the sea, giving her daughter a stern face.

"We're not gonna swim." Alicia protested.

"It's a yard sale, I'll go." Nick stated, still holding the binoculars to his eyes.

"I'm with you." Chris added, looking out to shore.

Nina continued to sit but had twisted her torso around to see what Alicia was blabbering about. After a moment she spoke up, "Count me in. I could use some time on land."

"Wait!" Madison began before being cut off by her daughter.

"If they're going, I'm going."

"Wait…no…listen to me, all of you. Look, if anything were to happen to you, it'd be—"

Alicia cut her mother off, "Anything did happen. We're all in it. We've seen and done—"

"I know."

"So stop putting us at the kids table." Alicia glared at her mother.

Chris put down the binoculars, glancing back at Madison and his stepsister, "I'll watch her."

"You're gonna get slapped!" Alicia gave Chris a hard glare.

Nick turned around, "Mom, we need more clothes, we need more meds, we need more everything. What Nina gave us wasn't enough."

Strand took the eyeglasses from Chris and peered over at the island, "Valid."

"So, we go while Travis fixes the engine. We get what we can and we come straight back." Nick continued, already making his way to the dining area.

Travis emerged and eyed around at the others. "What's going on?"

"Dad, we're going to shore." Chris got up from the bench.

Travis took the binoculars from Strand, "Like hell you are."

"We're not asking for permission." Alicia sneered.

"Excuse me?" Travis put down the eyeglasses; he stood in disbelief that Alicia would speak to him like that.

"Yeah, hold on." Madison began to shake her head, not liking how her daughter was raising her tone with Travis.

"I'll take them." Daniel cut in, "The girl is right. We're wasting time. Anything goes wrong, we come back quickly."

Madison and Travis stared at each other with worry in their eyes.

* * *

Travis stepped into the dinghy, glancing back at the others, "Okay, get in, get out. Look for sealed pills, clothes, canned food, and size 13 sneakers if you see 'em."

Chris threw a bag down into the boat as he stepped in.

Nina followed, tossing a few empty duffle bags at Chris's feet. She got into the boat, not taking off her backpack. She sat down, holding a crow bar across her lap.

Alicia practically jumped into the dinghy, taking an empty canister of gasoline with her.

"It's on the list." Ofelia held a list out, speaking directly to Alicia, "Hey, if you see anything not completely awful—"

Nick grabbed the piece of paper from her hand, "I got you."

Ofelia rolled her eyes, glancing back at the two girls, "Alicia, Nina… I can't do geriatric chic."

"What's wrong with geriatric chic?" Nick asked, making a face.

"Relax…" Ofelia laughed softly.

"Get warm clothes too, okay? Jackets, sweaters, it's cold out there on the water." Madison said, as Travis stepped around her.

"It will be warmer in Mexico." Salazar said slyly.

Madison pivoted around, narrowing her eyes, "What does that mean?"

She followed Salazar up on deck, listening to him closely.

"Our capitán has a destination. He has from the start; I found some charts, a map for a location in Baja."

"What the hell's in Baja?" Madison scowled.

"Perhaps you should ask him."

"Why didn't you?"

"I think that conversation would not end well. You'd be more…diplomatic."

Madison turned around to stare up at the bridge, keeping her voice low, "I'm not known for my diplomacy"


	6. The Mother We Share

**_I apologize in advance that the last chapter, this chapter, and the next one will not have too much variance from canon. But I'm changing things up soon. Thank you for the follows and reviews :-)_**

* * *

Salazar pulled the dinghy up on the rocks of the beach, while the four teenagers waited for him.

He brushed past them and began to climb the incline to investigate why there was so much luggage.

Chris followed behind him, keeping quiet.

Salazar spotted two charred bodies on the ground, the smell drifted through the breeze. "Whew…" He coughed, waiting for the others to catch up.

"My God," Chris gasped, in awe of the wreckage.

Alicia put a hand over her mouth to prevent the smell from entering her nose, "That's disgusting."

Nick stepped into what was once the nose of the plane, looking around to see if he spotted anything useful.

Salazar took a step back, "Okay, let's be quick. Everyone where I can see you. Fill your bags, come back."

Nick, Chris and Alicia split up. Nina stayed behind, staring at the two corpses. She had to blink a few times to reassure herself what she was seeing could not be. The two charred remains appeared to look exactly like her Aunt and Uncle. She rubbed her eyes with one hand until she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Daniel approached her, "Is everything alright?"

Nina opened her eyes, realizing the charred remains looked nothing like her aunt and uncle. She began to nod her head, "Yeah, everything's fine." She glanced over her shoulder at him and forced a short smile. She then turned and walked away.

* * *

Back on the Abigail, Travis stood on the docking deck, adorned in full diving gear, ready to complete his task from last night. He slipped the goggles over his face, looking at his girlfriend, "Okay. I'll only be a minute, okay?"

"Okay. Careful." Madison said anxiously.

Travis threw himself backwards into the sea.

Madison bit her lip, keeping her eyes on the water for a minute before she brought the binoculars, hanging around her neck, up to her eyes. She could see five figures moving around the sandy island; she prayed they would make a short trip with no trouble. She then paced up on deck to see if she could see any indication of Travis. The first thing she noticed was a string of bubbles from his oxygen tank. After a minute or two, a sickening thud was heard followed by more bubbles surfacing.

"Come on, Travis." She whispered to herself, beginning to worry, "Come on."

Without warning, a muffled scream was herd underwater. The bubbles began to grow bloody. It frightened Madison and her mind instantly went to the worse case scenario. "Trav—Travis!"

She blinked a few times as a body floated up to the surface revealing a dead infected. "Travis?!"

Travis surfaced, spit out water, and looked up at her, "Pulled the poor bastard out finally—" He stopped himself when he saw the concerned expression on his girlfriends face.

* * *

Chris split ways with Alicia, going around a small pool of water, not feeling entirely interested in collecting supplies. He turned and watched everyone else begin to open luggage—their backs turned away from his direction—before making the decision to leave and explore another part of the island.

He wondered around until he spotted wreckage; the back end of the plane. He walked up to his cautiously and attempted to see if he could see into the plane through the windows but the sun blocked the view. He then went around to an opening and knelt down to see if he could find a makeshift weapon to use in case he ran into any trouble. He got to his feet and began to make his way into the wreckage, going slowly, his eyes shifted back and forth. And then he spotted it. He smirked to himself, watching a biter with an oxygen mask rocking back and forth in the seat. He scoffed, "Look at you."

The biter continued to snarl making biting sounds underneath the mask.

Chris walked up to him; the smirk remained on his face. "Bet you can't bite me through that mask now, can you?"

He reached out to bop the oxygen mask. He looked past the infected and saw another one reaching out to him making growling noises. He smirked again, and peered over at a man sitting there who was acting different than the rest of the infected. Chris shook his head and steadied his makeshift weapon and whacked the biter in the head with a loud clank. He leaned forward, making a face at the other biter who could not get to him. After a moment, he turned his eyes on the man, wondering why he was not behaving like the others. He jumped back about a foot when the man sprung to life.

"Help me, please." He glared at Chris with sad eyes, "God, help me."

* * *

Meanwhile, Nick sat on his knees on the ground and pulled a jacquard suitcase to him. He unzipped it slowly to reveal a white beach hat sitting on top of a pile of clothes. He immediately put on the floppy hat and then spotted a switchblade. He picked it up, investigated it, and pocketed it. As he rummaged through the bag he discovered a bottle of Nature's Way Ginger Root capsules. Ginger, he remembered, someone once told him it was great for nausea when coming down from an intense high. He put it in the duffle bag along with some clothes. He then got up and went over to Alicia. As he approached her, he put the beach hat on her and went to check out another bag.

Alicia smirked, and threw a pilot shirt in his direction. She held back a laugh watching him put it on, "All these years never knowing where you were or what you were doing. And now here you are."

He peered over at her, squinting to shield his eyes from the sun, "I was always there. I was just hungry."

Alicia began to laugh finding Nick's appearance to be comical.

* * *

Back on the Abigail, Madison made her way into the bridge, "Mexico?"

Strand closed his eyes and shook his head, immediately knowing who found out his secret.

"Where the hell are you taking us?" She asked, going over to look through the piles of maps next to the dashboard.

"Why don't we start by telling me who's been meddling in my business?"

"This is my business. It's all of our business." She had a sharp tone to her voice as she turned to glare at Strand.

"Perhaps our Latin friend?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Where are we going?" She asked again, emphasizing each word.

"I saved Nick from that death camp—"

"And then we saved you, Victor, remember?" She cut him off.

"I welcome you into my home…"

She took a step forward, "Who got you to your home?"

"I give you and your family safe passage on my boat. And you still don't trust me. Are we not friends?" He took a step forward.

"Are we going to Mexico?"

Strand sighed, gesturing toward the bench, "Please."

Madison reluctantly sat down.

He then continued his explanation, "In Baja, California there's a town called Rosarito. Southeast of this town there are hills. And in those hills stand a house. It has food stores, gardens, water filtration for the well, reinforced concrete walls. And I have precious little time to get there. It is the only safe place, the only sound plan."

Madison tried not to laugh at his words, "You said San Diego was safe."

"No longer on the itinerary."

"Why lie? Why?" She asked him, starting to stand up again, "Were you going to abandon us?"

Strand looked away from her, "How could I abandon eight people at once?"

"Let me make it simple. We're coming with you, all of us."

"And you expect me to trust you clearly more than you trust me?" He countered with conniving eyes.

She paused for a moment, "We have to trust each other."

"Fine, you know what the real danger is on the ocean? It's people. Strangers. Friends."

Madison took a step forward to glare up at him, "This is my family."

"Exactly. Your family." He pointed at her and then pivoted to walk away.

"We're just gonna eat each other alive. We have to go back to back to get this done."

Strand turned around using the balls of his feet, "Good."

"Good." She began to leave the room but stopped herself, "And, Victor," she said, looking back over her shoulder, "you even look wrong at anyone in my family I will throw you overboard."

Strand let out a chuckle, "You're not a killer."

* * *

Nina rummaged through a Louis Vuitton handbag trying to see if someone brought motion sickness pills. She pulled out the wallet, curious about who had once owned the purse. As soon as she opened it a Polaroid photo fell out, she picked it up, and felt a sense of sadness come over at what she saw. It was a young woman, not too much older than herself, standing next to a young girl in front of a brick building. The young woman beamed; she had light brown skin and a curly fro. The little girl also had light brown skin, and deep dark brown eyes. A white and navy baseball cap with the letter 'D' on it held down her curly hair; she smirked against the young woman. Nina ran her fingers over what was written underneath the photo: Me & Clem—The Marsh House '10. The license in the wallet matched the older girl; the name on the photo identification stated Penelope Barnes. She began to imagine this girl was most likely coming to California to pursue the cliché dream of being an actress. Nina closed the wallet, pocketed the photo, and tossed the wallet aside. She then began to rummage through the bag again but found nothing useful. She got to her feet and moved over to a paisley printed Vera Bradley tote that was sitting near Daniel.

Daniel was busy shifting through a black coloured suitcase, pulling out pill bottles from a small bag. He stared at them, wondering if any of them would be useful to help his daughter.

Nina sunk down to her knees in the sand and quickly started to reach into the bag, she pulled out various items in order: a makeup bag, a laptop, a leather portfolio, set of keys, and a matching print wallet. She did not bother to open the matching wallet this time. She reached back into the bag, feeling around, when she felt several bottles in her grip. She yanked then out to reveal several mini bottles of vodka. Nina thought to herself, "Someone was an alcoholic…" She deposited them in her lap and continued to search around the bag for anything else useful. Nothing else seemed worthy so shoved the bottles of alcohol in her backpack, stood up, and started to walk away.

Nick approached her, adjusting the bag on his shoulder. He held out a bottle of pills, "These ought to help with all your nausea you've been having."

Nina investigated the label and felt a smile tug at her lips as she peered up at him, "Um, well, thank you, Nick..." She spoke softly before going over to another pile of suitcases near Alicia.

"No problem." He smiled faintly before moving his attention onto Salazar, "Hey, I got something for you too. And I think…it'll really bring out your eyes." He held up a blue Hawaiian printed shirt.

Daniel sneered, "Back luck to steal from the dead. You should not be joking about it." He went back to looking down at the bottle of pills in his hand.

"Ofelia?"

Daniel looked up at the name; he was reluctant to indicate they were for his daughter. Finally he caved and nodded his head.

Nick dropped to his knees, reaching out for the bottles, "This shit won't do, man. You want the 'cillins'. 'Codones'. So, amoxicillin, oxycodone…" He tossed several bottles aside, "Yeah, no, this is useless."

Daniel did his best to not look disheartened by the news. He began to look around and noticed Chris was missing. He stood, twisting his torso back and forth, "Where's Chris?"

Nick shrugged, "I don't know."

Daniel started to walk away, "Stay with Nina and your sister." He stepped away from the debris, looking around at the large sand dunes, "Chris! Chris!"

* * *

Chris grunted, lifting the drink tray off the man. He dropped it off to the side and immediately struggled to unbuckle the man's belt.

The man groaned, "Come on, hurry."

Chris finally got the belt undone and reached to embrace the man to hoist him on his feet. The man fell forward with a grunt, putting all his weight on Chris, and tumbled forward with a loud, sickening crack.

Chris stepped back as the man screamed in pain. He forced himself down to his knees to look over the man to find the source of what could be causing this man to be in such pain. He gaped at what he saw: part of the man's spine was sticking out from his back. He continued to gawk at it for a minute before he sat back, feeling completely useless. What was he supposed to do?

The man peered up at him with pleading eyes, "Help me. Please."

Chris brushed back his hair, and went over to the drink tray to find a bottle of water. He twisted the cap off and pressed it against the man's lips, "Here. Come on. Take this. Drink."

"No. No. Enough." The man shook his head, beginning to wheeze.

Chris threw the bottle aside and sat back down again, clueless on what to do. He stared down at the man who continued to beg 'Please'. Suddenly, it dawned on him as to what this man wanted. He wanted to die.

He continued to sit there for a moment, knowing it would take every fibre of his being to do what this man wanted. He reluctantly got to his feet and went over to the makeshift weapon he had found earlier. He put it in his hands and stared at the bloody object, beginning to question his motives. He turned around to face the heavily breathing man. His own breath felt staggered, he could feel tears swelling in his eyes, as he positioned the metal weapon against the man's face. Closing his eyes he raised his arms and swung down with all the might he had. He did it again, thinking that would be the final blow, but to his astonishment the man was still alive.

The man gurgled, wanting, wishing the sweet embrace of death would take hold of him already.

Chris closed his eyes again and immediately began to whack away at the man's head, loosing all sense of control. He wanted this moment to be over quickly but all of this felt like a giant release for the anger he had built up inside of him. After a few more blows, he staggered backwards, and fell to the floor. He breathed heavily, assessing the damage he had just inflicted.

* * *

"Chris! Chris!" Daniel continued to shout, walking around, continuing to look east at the large sand dunes. He began to rant and curse in Spanish, "Where are you, you little bastard?"

He kicked at the sand, shouting out the boys name once more, "Chris!"

* * *

Alicia approached her brother and Nina, "Where are they?"

Nick sat beside Nina, staring down at a rosary he had found in one of the bags. He sighed heavily, shrugging his shoulders, "I don't know."

Nina was going through suitcases near Nick searching for articles of clothing that fit her taste. For the most part, she liked what she was wearing now, it was comfortable and practical. Currently she wore a navy blue cargo jacket, plaid shirt, black cotton tee and black skinny jeans along with dark grey combat boots. After digging through the bags she pulled out a crème sweater, maroon cami, and a pair of jeans. She shrugged thinking that was enough, and then proceeded to stuff the items of clothing into the duffle bag. She peered up at Alicia, "I think he went to look for Chris."

Alicia pivoted left and right, shaking her head, "They're taking too long." She started to walk off, dropped her bag, and went in the direction closest to where they came from.

"We're right behind you." Nick stated, slowly getting to his feet, duffle bag in hand.

Nina tossed the duffle bag on top of Alicia's and began to walk in her direction.

Nick stopped in his tracks when he spotted a black briefcase. "Hold on, guys," he said to them. Alicia failed to hear him as she wondered off to find Chris and Salazar.

Nina spun around, "What? What is it?"

Nick did not answer her as he went over to the briefcase, "Oh, hello." He reached into the black bag and began to pull out samples of 'amoxicillin'

* * *

"Christ," Travis grumbled, tugging on the wrench he had clasped around a bolt, he cursed under his breath.

Madison came downstairs, looking around, "You need a hand?"

"Trust me, you don't want any of this. I had to pull apart the whol filtration system."

Madison sighed, putting her hands in her pockets, "Um, I've been talking to Strand."

Travis stopped working and looked over at her with interest, "Uh-huh?"

"He has a place in Baja."

Travis made a face and started up his task again.

"Says it's fortified, stocked, safe." Madison continued.

"And he just came up with this?' Travis tilted his head, looking very confused.

"It's our best chance. We should trust him."

Travis shook his head, getting up to go over to a toolbox, "Do we have a choice?"

"No."

"Then it's not about trust." Travis said, as he sat back down to unscrew the pipes.

"He's come through so far." Madison countered.

"Yep, now he has a magic house in Baja."

"Travis, if we don't have a destination, then we're just drifting, just waiting to die."

"Maddy," Travis said, hitting the wrench with a metal pipe, "no one wants to live more than I do."

"Okay, so we agree."

"Sounds to me like you already made your decision." Travis raised his eyebrows, not wanting to continue this argument with her.

She sighed, "I just need us together on this."

"We are together. But, uh, you know, I just don't know where we're going."

She frowned, "I just told you."

"Yeah, yeah…" Travis mumbled, "That's not what I meant." He looked at her one last time and went back to work.

* * *

Daniel called out Chris name one more time before he felt the urge to give up. He swallowed his frustration, looked out to the sand dunes, and saw someone running down it. He put his hand up above his brow, attempting to shield the glare of the sun, "Chris?"

The figure continued running, tumbled over themselves, scrambled to their feet, and sprinted forward.

Daniel wondered what the boy could be running from, "Chris!"

As the figure got closer, Daniel had to strain his eyes, realizing it was not Chris after all. "Stop!"

Alex ran toward the man, trying to catch her breath as she ran, "They're coming! They're coming!"

Daniel caught her, looked her in the eye for an explanation, but felt himself be pushed aside.

"Run!" The girl told him, walking away from him.

He stood there, watching and waiting to see who 'they' were. Slowly, one by one, the infected started to crest the sand dune.

Daniel pulled out his handgun, making sure it was fully loaded, and aimed.


	7. Map of the Problematique

Nick gave Nina a half grin, "Found these." He held up four boxes of amoxicillin.

Nina brushed strands of hair flailing in the wind out of her eyes, "Put those in the bag and let's get the hell out of here."

He got to his feet, stepped over to toss the boxes into the bag when he heard faint snarling. "Wait, you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That." Nick pointed his finger in the direction of a large crevasse in the sand.

As Nina strained her ears, she began to hear it herself. She watched him make his way to the edge of the chasm, "Nick, don't…"

"Jesus," he said, peering down at an infected that was waist deep in sand. Crabs ate away at it like ants would a dying insect.

Nina crept over to an incline leading down into the pit, she snorted under her breath wondering what Seth would say if he were there to see this. She watched the biter grab a crab and stuff it into his mouth. She sighed, looking over at Nick, who stood diagonally from her, "Nick, come on, let's go."

"In a minute," Nick kept his eyes down on the infected as he stepped backwards. The sand collapsed under his weight, sending him sliding down into the ridge.

"Nick!" Nina yelled, watching him crash into the biter.

He struggled against it, pressing one hand underneath the jaw while his other hand thrashed around trying to grab something. He then began to sock the biters jaw to stun it—no avail. He continued to press the palm of his hand underneath the jaw while his other hand reached for his pocket. He withdrew the switchblade and stabbed the biter straight into the temple.

During this time, Nina had climbed down the rocks of the incline. She knelt beside him, helping Nick lift the biter off him, "Are you hurt?"

Nick panted heavily as he rolled over with closed eyes, "I'm good."

He pushed himself up, looking around until he met her eyes.

Nina heard another snarl, she looked down at the biter, and then up again at Nick.

He tilted his head, thinking the infected was springing back to life. His eyes drifted upwards when he saw another one stumbling over the edge of the small cliff, "Oh, shit!"

Nina yelped, taking a few steps back.

The biter collapsed onto the lifeless body and immediately attempted to get to its feet; it struggled with all its might. The gurgling groan emitting from the back of its throat turned into a choked rasp.

Nick stared at it, seeing it had broken its legs in the fall, and watched it begin to drag itself in his direction. It was almost comical. He took the switchblade and penetrated the biter through the top of the skull. The knife made a sickening sound as it was withdrawn; blood splattered onto Nick's crisp white button down. He pulled himself up to his feet with a heavy respire.

Nina waited by the rocks she had used to climb down from; she watched Nick until he met her at the rocky incline.

She mounted the small boulder, and then moved onto the next one. She then peered over the ledge, stopping in her tracks, observing a herd making their way down to the coast.

"What's the hold up?" Nick asked, clambering the rocks to be at Nina's level.

A blank expression was written on her face, she did not know if she should be irritated that Nick did not listen to her or thanking him because his actions turned out to be a blessing in disguise. She ducked down, pressed her back against the sandy wall, her eyes lit up as an idea came to play. She tugged on Nick's shirt before hopping down to the ground. She whipped her backpack off and stooped down to rummage through it.

Nick joined her, remaining silent.

She tossed a rain poncho, still in the package, at him, "Put it on."

She did not wait as she ripped the package open and threw her's on. She then moved with stealth to the most recently killed biter's body. She rolled it over on its back, exposing the torso. She then held a hand out, "Give me your knife…" She whispered loudly.

Nick kneeled beside her, he tossed the poncho to the side and handed her the pocketknife, watching her closely, "What are we doing?"

"Camouflaging ourselves, I need you to trust me."

Nina cut into the abdomen and then stretched the skin open to expose its guts. She tried not to gag as she dug her hands into the incision. She chunked the blood on her poncho with a grimace.

Nick followed her lead; he lathered himself with the blood over his bare skin like it was soap in a shower. It smelled like death; the urge to vomit lurched in his stomach; yet, a familiar rush pulsed throughout his body.

Nina paused as she watched Nick; awed he was applying it directly to his body. She shook her head realizing she could not afford to waste any more time contemplating his actions. She moved back to her backpack, slung it over her shoulders and began to climb the rocks once more.

* * *

The clanks of metal dangling from the section of the plane sounded like a heavy wind chime dancing in the breeze. Alicia Clark observed the debris scattered about hoping her stepbrother was nearby, "Chris?!" she called out, "Chris?!"

The fact he wandered off in the first place irritated her, "Christopher!"

Chris stared aimlessly down at the corpse of the man he had just killed mercifully. He blinked slowly thinking he heard a voice echoing in his head at first. It sounded like his mother calling him for dinner for the umpteenth time. The voice faded and morphed into Alicia's. He blinked again bringing himself to the present, realizing it _was_ his stepsister shouting his name. He stumbled to his feet and glimpsed one more time at the dead man as he left the wreckage.

He rounded the plane, trying to remain calm as he approached Alicia.

"Where the hell were you?" She rebuked.

"I—I was in there," he gestured behind him using his melee weapon as a pointer, "I was in there looking for supplies."

Alicia's eyes dropped down to the blood spattered on his neck and chest, "Are you—Are you hurt?" She narrowed concerning eyes.

"No…" he answered confused until his vision shifted to where her eyes were staring, "Yeah, no, no. I'm ok—I'm okay. It wasn't—it wasn't me."

"You killed one?" She asked with astonishment.

Chris nodded his head 'yes'. He gulped; convincing himself it was mostly the truth.

Alicia's lips parted, before she could say anything a gunshot filled the air.

The two teenagers traded apprehensive stares before heading off to find the source.

* * *

Back on the _Abigail_ , Madison's attention was diverted from her thoughts at the popping of gun blast.

"Strand!" she yelled, grabbing the binoculars, and moved to the front of the boat. She could see Salazar and Chris (or who she thought was Chris), on top of a mound of sea grass and sand, surrounded by the infected.

"We have to move! We have to move! We have to move _now_!"

Strand came out of the bridge, and took the binoculars from Madison, "Give it."

"What happened? Is it Daniel?" Travis came up from the engine room with a vexed expression.

"Start it," Madison turned to Travis, taking the binoculars from Strand once more, "Go! Go!"

"Start in five!" Travis said, running back down to the engine room.

Strand did not hesitate as he returned to the bridge, eager to get the kids out of impending danger and be on their way to Mexico.

* * *

Alicia and Chris rounded the bend to see Daniel and whom they thought was Nina being pressed back onto the beach.

"Daniel! Where's Nick?" Alicia queried with a demanding tone.

'Let's get back to the boat." Daniel said, his eyes fixed on the incoming herd.

"Where's Nina?" Chris probed, his mind wondering whom this other girl was.

The sound wave of moans and growls grew louder making Alicia realize the danger that was approaching them.

"Grab something—now!" Daniel commanded, aiming his gun again as he shot two approaching biters.

Chris steadied his makeshift weapon; he started to doubt their escape.

Alex steadied her knife as she took in a sharp inhale.

Alicia struggled to retrieve a pipe sticking out from the bed of sand.

Daniel ran out of bullets and used the blunt end of the handle of the gun to smack one of the infected in the head. Unfortunately, it was not blunt enough forcing Alex to stab it in the head and they both tumbled to the ground.

Chris jumped, smacking a few of the infected across their faces.

Alicia used the pipe to hit one square in the head; she brought her arm back to knock another.

* * *

On the _Abigail_ , Travis was digging his hand in the pipe as sludge poured out as thick, black goo. "Ugh, Christ…" He pushed his arm further into the pipe until he felt what was blocking it—the biters hand he had pulled out of the intake a few hours earlier.

He turned around, "Go, go, go!"

Madison ran up the stairs, screaming as she went back up on deck, "Strand! Strand!"

Strand powered the boat back on with no issues.

* * *

The small group on the island was being pushed back farther toward the edge of a small cliff.

Alicia grunted, smacking an infected that was grabbing at her ankles. She looked up just in time to see another one lunging forward. Alicia pushed the pipe underneath its snapping jaw, using all her strength to keep it from overpowering her.

Without warning, someone knocked the biter from behind, revealing Nick. He stood there drenched in blood, a crowbar in hand.

Alicia gasped, almost dropping the pipe, both relieved and scared to see her brother.

Nina remained at the back of the herd, unseen by the group. She craftily slung her backpack off her shoulders, unzipped it, and pulled out a bottle of break fluid from one pouch, a packet of pool shock from another, and finally three mini tin cans from the main compartment. She looked up, her eyes scanning the back of the herd, glad her movements had gone unnoticed. She worked fast and diligently; she placed the tin cans in a triangle formation before pouring pool shock into them. She glanced up one more time before pouring break fluid in the three cans.

Letting out a heavy exhale, she zipped her backpack up, put it back on her shoulders, and stepped back to watch the magic happen. A heavy smoke began to emit from the three cans, twisting until it formed one column—then BANG! A red fireball shot up in the air.

Many of the infected stopped, turned away from the group, and began to wobble to the source of the miniature explosion.

When the heard split, Chris saw this as an opportunity, "Go! Go! Go!"

Daniel, Alex, and Alicia headed off to where the dinghy would be waiting.

Nick whacked another walker in the head, nearly losing his footing in the sand, as he started to head in the direction of the others. He stopped suddenly, a strange curiosity filled his senses, and he deliberately got face to face with one of the infected. He nearly pressed his forehead against the biters forehead as he mimicked its movements. The infected curled its lip, snarling, trying to make its way around him. Nick began to hiss back at the biter; it felt like he was dancing with death and he felt no fear whatsoever.

"Nick!" Nina said through clenched teeth, tugging on the back of his shirt, knowing they did not have time to hem and holler around, "Let's go!"

The strange rush swept over him again as he turned to follow Nina out of the heard; he was in a blissful awe at what just occurred.

Back at the dinghy, Chris and Daniel threw bags into the small boat, while Alicia shouted out her brother's name.

Nina and Nick sprinted forward, both knowing they did not have much time before the rest of the heard would make their way down to the beach.

Nina immediately went to help Daniel, Alex, and Chris start to pull the small boat down the rocks and to the water.

Alicia went straight up to her brother, "Nick, are you bit?"

Nick blinked a few times, shaking his head, his mind elsewhere, "I'm good, I'm good…"

His sister grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her, " _Are you bit_?" She enunciated each word.

"No, I'm good," He nodded his head, still in a daze, "I'm okay, I'm okay."

Alicia threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly for a moment. When she pulled back, she forced herself to smile at him and then went to join the others at the waterfront.

Nick turned his head one more time to watch the approaching heard before walking down to the rocky beach.

Alex looked at everyone, a pleading expression etched on her face, "We need to make a stop."

* * *

On the _Abigail_ , Strand stared through binoculars with a discerning stare.

"Can you tell if they're okay? Are they all there?" Madison pestered, her thoughts focused on Alicia and Nick.

"Yes, but there's more." Strand handed the binoculars over to Madison; this was not good news to him.

"What?" Madison immediately brought the eyeglasses up to her face, watching the grey dinghy pulling a bright yellow raft behind it.

* * *

Once both rafts were situated next to the yacht, Madison reached out to help her daughter back on, "Are you hurt? What happened?"

Alicia sighed, shrugging, "I don't know exactly." She said sounding faraway.

Madison peered over at her son and Nina. She wondered why Nina was wearing a poncho covered in guts, and more importantly, why her son was covered in blood. "What happened with you two?"

Neither answered. Nick stared aimlessly at Alex and Jake, watching the Asian girl attended to her injured friend. Nina boarded the yacht, putting a duffle bag down on the deck.

Chris stepped over to his father with a guilty expression, "I'm sorry, I didn't—I didn't mean…"

"We got separated." Daniel licked his lips, staring at Madison and Travis, "I almost lost the kids."

"You brought them back, " Madison forced a short grin.

Ofelia patted her father's back, thankful he had returned unharmed.

Strand stood on the stairs, eyeing the two newcomers with contempt.

Nina reached out to help Alex onto the boat when she heard Strand protest.

She twirled around, glaring at him with perplexity, "What do you mean no? They need—"

"I don't care. There's no room." Strand narrowed his eyes.

Nina scoffed, "No room? Why can't they get on the boat?"

"Not here. Not where we're going."

Alicia stepped in, her brow crinkled with skepticism, "We don't know where we're going." She looked around at the adults, not liking how they all eyed each other, "Mom?"

Madison sighed, keeping her eyes on Strand, "Yes, we do. We're going to Mexico."

The four teenagers froze in place, each sharing a look with one another.

Madison continued, "Strand has a place there. There's food, power, water. It's close, Baja. He's invited us to stay till things clear."

Nick made his way around his mother, putting the last duffle bag on top of the others, "Things will never clear."

"Then we make it our home."

Ofelia side-glanced Madison before glancing at everyone else, "We don't know that it's safer down there than anywhere—"

"We're gonna find out." Madison nagged.

Alicia glared at Strand, not trusting him, "How do we know it's what he says it is?"

Strand said shortly, "It is what I say it is."

"Okay, why didn't this come up before? Why are we just hearing about this now?" Ofelia questioned.

Travis sighed, stepping from the longboat, "Because it's necessary now. We can't stay on the water forever. Madison's right. We made a decision. We have our destination."

"And what about them?" Alicia gestured out to Alex and Jake.

Alex put her head down, eyeing over at her wheezing friend in the yellow raft.

"They're a liability. The boy's sick. He'll turn." Strand stated, trying to keep his composure.

This statement struck a chord within Nina, a memory coming into play as she spoke, "So, we make it as comfortable as possible for him when it does happen."

Alex's features softened upon hearing Nina's words.

Alicia nodded her head, speaking up again, "Nina's right. He'll turn if we don't help him."

Strand grew irritated, "Madison, please—"

Alicia cut him off, glaring at her mother, "Fine, fine, fine. They won't come to Mexico. They just need some medicine and a place to stay for night. LOOK AT HIM!" She gestured back at Jake, "HE'S DYING!"

Madison opened her mouth to protest, feeling torn.

"Are you people really debating this?" Alex looked around at everyone, watching them stare at her with vacant expressions.

Nina raised her eyebrows, waiting for someone else to side with her and Alicia, "What the hell is wrong with you people?"

Strand pursed his lips, "If you two feel so strongly about it, you are more than welcome to get in their raft and join them."

Travis closed his eyes, feeling Strand had pushed it a little too far this time. "We can tow them." He suggested, thinking this was the best solution to appease both sides of the debate, "We can tow them to San Diego, in their raft."

"Travis, what part of what I'm saying—" Strand started to say.

"They don't come on the boat, okay? We're safe, they get a chance." Travis raised his voice.

Madison paced over to Strand, leaning against the railing of the stairs, "Victor…" she stared up at him with pleading eyes.

Victor glared, shaking his head, and walked away in silence.

Travis walked over to Alex, his eyes looking out at the water, "We can give you food, water…"

Alex pressed her dry lips together, feeling she and Jake really no other choice at this point. All she could do was nod her head in agreement; she could not even manage a thank you. Was she truly thankful for this option?

* * *

After they had handed supplies, blankets, and water to the two newcomers, Alicia and Madison stood on the back of the boat watching the raft drift away from yacht.

Alex tried not to glare; she pulled Jack into her lap, staring down at his burned face. She knew deep down that he most likely would not make it but she could not give up on him; the guilt of taking his mother's seat welled inside her heart. "This is the worst. It'll never hurt worse than right now. And every day will be a little better. This is the worst it's going to be."

Back on the yacht, Alicia sighed, keeping her eyes out on the raft, "Please, Mom, it doesn't have to be like this. We can bring them on. We brought Nina on—"

"That was different. Right now, this is the best I can do."

Up on the bridge, Strand paced back and forth as he debated the decision Madison had made. Adding two more to the headcount of an already overcrowded agenda was weighing too heavily on his mind.

* * *

Nina leaned against the railing near the bow of the yacht, she tossed her poncho into the sea, watching it float on the surface of the water. Her eyes followed it until the drag of the _Abigail_ pulled it under. She forced herself to swallow the pill in her mouth, hearing footsteps approaching behind her.

Nick, still covered in blood, wiped a towel over his face. He then went over to her leisurely, trying to think of something light to say to start the conversation with, "That was pretty gnarly what you did back there, on the beach…with the explosion and all."

Nina tapped her thumbs on the railing, curling her bottom lip under her top, letting out a fuming exhale. She shook her head, turning her head in his direction; it was obvious she was upset with the decision the group had made about Jake and Alex. "Who says that anymore? 'Gnarly'?"

"I…do?" Nick raised his shoulders, before leaning against the railing; he stared out at the ocean.

Nina sighed, her eyes shifted over to the horizon, "We could have taken them on. It didn't have to be like that."

"I know, I know," Nick looked over at her, "but you and I both know he would have turned—"

"So? So we just leave them behind? Just like we left Seth behind?" Nina closed her eyes, shaking her head at her words before she turned her body to face him, "We keep making decisions like this, we're no better than the dead ones."

With that, Nina grabbed her backpack off the bench and stomped off.

* * *

Madison watched the yellow raft be towed behind the _Abigail_. The sense of guilt grew in her heart, but she agreed with Travis's decision, at least they were not left to die.

She blinked when Strand ran past her, she frowned, "What are you—"

Strand took the hatchet in his hands and axed the rope connecting the raft to the boat.

"No!" Madison gasped out of pure disbelief Strand would do such a thing.


	8. Head Like a Hole

The moon hung high in the sky casting its white rays across the rough waves crashing onto the shore. Out of the waves, a fully nude Nick Clark emerged. He huffed, spitting seawater from his mouth, trying to keep his grip on the waterproof bag holding his clothes. He crawled onto the sand, collapsing from exhaustion; he had not anticipated the swim to shore would be so strenuous.

The familiar rotating purr of an approaching helicopter grew louder; it shined a floodlight down into the water as it flew overhead and back to the battleship it was stationed on.

Nick dug his knees into the sand, moving quickly as he pulled his clothes out of the plastic pouch, his eyes lifted up to search his surroundings every few seconds. Taking another heavy breath, he stood, and slid into his trousers. He swiftly buttoned them and then proceeded to slide the white undershirt over his head; the wet clothes clung to his lean frame.

He walked into a camp that once held hundreds if not a thousand people at one point. It was not hard to imagine that people had been desperate to get into Mexico, presumably where they thought it was safer than the United States. Nick frowned, wondering if the people truly had been saved since it seemed empty of all life. He found an empty water jug on the ground and began to bang it across a metal barrier, waiting and listening for any signs of movement.

And then he heard the familiar groaning; he ducked behind a tent and waited for it to come into view. He threw the water jug past the biter and watched it turn toward the source of the sound. He moved with discretion, seeing the biter did not take too long to notice him. He sprinted forward until he found an open tent. He zipped it closed, watching the biter press its body against the mesh; the jaw masticating up and down, the teeth chattering loudly.

Nick's body relaxed as he reached out a hand toward the biters face and in one swift motion he grabbed the infected by the jaw. He hesitated before he jammed the dagger into the skull, still keeping his grip on the jaw so the biter would not fall to the ground.

He unzipped the mesh lining and pulled the body into the tent. He hesitated, remembering what Nina had done back on the island, before he lifted the shirt up to expose the biters torso. Looking away, he made an incision to expose innards. He dug his hands in the opening nearly gagging at the rotting smell.

Looking down at his hands, he faltered for a minute before he began to rub the blood over his face and upper body.

* * *

Travis rubbed his face, pacing back and forth in the bedroom, "Jesus, we didn't have to do that. He didn't have to do that. They weren't a threat to us. What is wrong with him?" He moved over to the closet and pressed both fist into the wall, "I could go upstairs right now… "

Madison threw the covers off her, pacing over to her boyfriend, "What? What are you gonna do?"

Travis took a step back, "I could throw his ass in the goddamn ocean."

"I think we need him." Madison stated calmly and quietly, "We need his house. We need Mexico."

"We can survive without him."

"I want to do more than survive! I need to start over. All the shit that's happened, all the shit we let happen… " Madison emphasized.

"I, I put those kids in that raft. That was me." Travis said sounding extremely guilty.

Madison shook her head, tilting her head to the side, "You didn't cut the line."

Travis scoffed, "We can't trust Strand. We don't even know if this place in Mexico even exist."

"Okay, but he hasn't lied."

"And we're gonna gamble our families' lives on that?" Travis rebuked sceptically.

* * *

The _Abigail_ , now anchored, rocked in the dawdling current of the sea. Other boats were anchored nearby, each seemingly having the same intent of breaching the border into Mexico that was heavily armed.

Nina sat at the table situated at the back of the boat, a deck of cards arrayed in front of her as she engaged in a game of solitaire.

Chris was seated on top of the bench, peering down at the table, drinking from a can of Coke. The two had not said much to each other, both dealing with their own internal affairs.

"It's almost morning, you two should be asleep." Ofelia came out on deck with a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Can't sleep," Chris said taking a sip before continuing, "too much noise in my head."

Nina remained silent as she concentrated on her card game. She picked up a card and eyes shifted back and forth as she laid it down on a pile; already calculating her next move.

"Nina? What's your excuse?" Ofelia required with a slight smile, pressing the coffee mug against her lips.

Nina failed to acknowledge her; she continued to move cards around, murmuring inaudible things under her breath.

Ofelia crinkled her brow, bringing the coffee cup down to her chest, "Nina?"

Nina looked up with a sheepish countenance, "Sorry…what was the question again?"

"I just wanted to know why you weren't sleeping."

Nina shrugged, resuming her game, almost finished completing it, "Didn't feel like sleeping."

"Ah," Ofelia nodded before slurping her drink.

"So, either of you ever been?" Chris queried, "Mexico, I mean."

Ofelia shook her head, "No, my parents crossed through Tijuana when they first left El Salvador."

Nina started to shuffle her cards, ready to play another round, "No, my father was Spaniard."

"Really?" Ofelia sounded interested, "How bout your mother?"

"Japanese," Nina responded with irritation, "Could we not talk about her?"

"Oh, um, sorry," Ofelia frowned, realising she had breached a touchy subject. She decided it was best not to provoke.

Chris side-glanced Nina, wondering if her mother had died similar to his. He pursed his lips for a moment before looking back up at Ofelia, "So, have you been back to Mexico?"

Ofelia juddered her head; "My parents and I didn't really leave the neighbourhood once we got settled. They put everything into that shop. And I put everything into watching over them. I gave up a lot, and they didn't need as much watching over as I thought." She gulped down the rest of her coffee.

"What'd you do, you know, for yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

A sheepish grin played at Chris's lips, he looked down, feeling embarrassed he was asking such a question, "Like… relationships."

Ofelia was slightly taken aback by the question; she scratched behind her ear, peering over at him, "I had some."

"Yeah, I was seeing this girl back in Pomona."

"Yeah?" Ofelia smirked softly.

"Maria Santos." Chris stated, turning his head to the left to stare out at the ocean at the memory of her. He wondered if she was still alive or if she had become one of those _things_.

"Mm, long time?" Ofelia smiled.

"No, no. A few months. Then my mom moved us back to L.A. New school. Parochial."

Chris grew quiet thinking about his mother; there was no denying how much he missed her.

"I went to Catholic K through 12. Definitely had some fun my parents didn't know about. Made some bad decisions." Ofelia smirked faintly as the memories surfaced; she looked over at Nina, almost hesitant to ask, "What about you, Nina? You must have had the boys chasing after you."

"Hardly," Nina intoned, laying out the cards again, "I didn't have time for boys, I was too busy studying."

"Smart girl, " Ofelia nodded.

"Help!" A voice called out, causing all three to turn to see a raft headed toward the boat, "We need help!"

"What the hell?" Chris grabbed the gun off the table, going over to the stairs with Ofelia trailing behind.

"Shit." She murmured.

Nina sat at the table; she twisted around to view what was going on. Her brow furrowed, a bad feeling coming over her.

Chris held the gun up, looking over at Ofelia for an answer, "Should I shoot them?"

"Help! Please, help us!" The raft went over to the loading dock; the people began to board it. A woman cried out in distress.

Reed continued to call out, "She's bleeding."

Ofelia did not hesitate as she ran down the stairs to meet the three intruders.

"Please, help us." Reed continued to plead, leading the whimpering woman over to the stairs.

Chris held the gun up, looking back at Nina, "Should I shoot?"

"Oh, god!" Vida moaned; she leaned against the boy helping her to the stairs.

"Dad!" Chris yelled, staying on the top of the stairs, his eyes remained fixated on the strangers.

"Something's wrong. Something's wrong with the baby." Reed pleaded, staring at Ofelia with large eyes.

Nina slowly inched her way off the bench once she heard their plea. She bit her bottom lip, watching the strangers closely.

Ofelia took the young woman in her arms, "It's okay, I got you."

Vida leaned against Ofelia, "Please, help. Please."

"Dad!" Chris yelled again, glancing over his shoulder, "Dad!"

"Just breathe. Breathe." Ofelia instructed to the woman, helping her up the stairs. She witnessed Madison, Travis and her father coming up from below deck. "Madison!' she called out.

Chris remained with the gun aimed at the two young men.

Nina crinkled her brow; she saw the blood running down the woman's leg. She looked down at Reed and Jack and then back at the young woman. Somehow, the first question she thought to herself was: Who the hell wears a skirt with dead things roaming around?

Chris looked back, seeing his father approach, "Dad! Dad, they just got on the boat. It wasn't my fault. I didn't let them in. They just boarded."

"Madison!" Ofelia called out again, leading Vida into the dining area.

Madison approached the two women, "Easy, easy. I got her."

Reed approached Travis, "Look, she's in bad shape, man. She's in bad shape." He started to follow the two women into the dining room but was stopped by Travis.

He held his hands up, "Just wait here." Travis appeared apprehensive.

Chris stood there, confused on what to do.

Nina went into the dining room to watch Madison lead Vida farther into the yacht.

Madison led the girl to the stairs that led below deck, "Here, let's go over here."

Travis stepped around Reed and saw another young man boarding the ship, he peered down at the loading dock to see a blue raft anchored to the vessel, "Where's your boat?'

The boy with the brown plaid jacket kept an urgent tone in his voice, "We lost our engines. We've been drifting for days."

"Drifting for days?" Nina uttered sceptically, her eyes scanned over Reed's face."

"Yeah, days," He scowled slightly; it annoyed him she was questioning his story.

Travis sighed, "Did you see anyone else in the water? Did you come from a larger group?"

Reed ran his hands through his hair, "Everything's been a blur. Frankly, uh, we've had a very hard time. Vida started to have labour pains and we panicked, we didn't know what to do…" He held up his hands in defence, "Please, we're—we're good people."

"What happened before your engine cut out?" Travis inquired, trying to believe Reed's story.

"We were holding out on some other boat. We were scared, but we were surviving." Jack answered for Reed, "Our hull got dinged when we were leaving the marina in Long Beach. We—we panicked. We thought we patched it up good, but we rushed it. Then we started taking on water and the engine flooded."

Meanwhile, Alicia made her way up the stairs from below deck. She stepped into the dining area, frowning at what she saw. She listened to the young man speaking to Travis when it dawned on her on why it was beginning to sound familiar.

"Jack?" She asked, her bright green eyes widening.

Everyone in the room stopped and looked over in her direction; Reed took this opportunity to make his move. He pulled Nina into his arms in one rapid motion, his left arm wrapped around her neck. Using his right hand, he pulled out a pistol from his pocket and pressed it into her temple, grinding the barrel deep against the skin. Nina instinctively brought both hands up to his arm as his grip tightened.

"Anybody moves, anybody tries something stupid, I'll blow her effing brains out," Reed stated coldly, narrowing taunting eyes.

Chris held his gun up, keeping his eyes on Reed, "You leave her alone."

Reed jeered, "Put the gun down, kid, or I pull the trigger." He clicked the hammer.

Nina closed her eyes, a small whimper escaping her lips.

"Put the gun down, Chris." Salazar commanded gingerly. He felt completely defenceless. He thought about making a move, debating if this boy would actually shoot the girl.

Chris hesitantly lowered the gun.

"Put it down on the ground…now!" Reed commanded, beginning to point his gun to the floor. "Jack, grab it!"

Jack went over to take the gun from Chris; he tried hard not to look at Alicia.

Alicia pleaded, taking a step forward, "Jack? Don't, please."

"You need to shut up. He's doing his job." Reed glared, before continuing, "Kip, start tying them up."

Jack held the gun up for a moment, his eyes searching the room, before they fell on Alicia, "Don't try anything stupid. He _will_ pull the trigger."

Reed narrowed his eyes again, "Tie this loser up first." He pointed the gun over at Chris for a second and then returned it to Nina's skull,

Jack looked at Chris, pocketing the gun as he took out several wires, "Hands behind your back."

Chris reluctantly obeyed, a persistent scowl on his face.

Reed waved the gun around, "Put him on the bench. Tie daddy dearest up next and put him on the other bench. Then Ofelia, put her next to Travis."

Jack gently led Chris over to the bench, and then crossed the room to bind Travis. After Travis he moved onto Ofelia just as Reed commanded. He almost seemed as much of a prisoner as the rest of the group.

"Daniel's next. Your girl can help you."

Alicia glowered, trying to stay brave, "Why are you doing this?"

"You can circumnavigate the world from this ship. She's a prize." Reed dug the barrel deeper into Nina's skin.

"You're making a mistake." Travis said

"No, I think your son made the mistake." Reed laughed, turning his attention onto Chris, "Should I shoot 'em?" He mocked, "Piece of advice, kid—if you have to ask the question, somebody should already be dead."

Reed moved his eyes back onto Alicia, "What are you waiting for? Tie up Daniel."

"I'm not doing shit."

"You really want your friend to die? I'll shoot, no skin off my nose."

Alicia quickly moved, stooping down to Daniel's level, she eyed Jack and Reed again with wrath.

"Kip, check the rest of the boat. Look for the captain and Nick."

"How do they know our names?" Salazar asked Alicia, his arms behind his back.

Alicia wrapped the wire around his wrist, shrugging, "I don't know, Daniel, I didn't—I didn't tell them about that." She glared intently at Jack.

Suddenly a splashing noise was heard in the distance. Reed dragged Nina to the sliding door leading to the promenade deck. Jack grabbed Alicia and joined Reed.

Strand could be seen rowing away from the _Abigail_.

"Jack! Get him."

"Jack, don't." Alicia warned, glancing over at Nina for a moment before turning her eyes back onto Jack, "Jack…Jack, don't."

Jack held the gun up, squinting one eye as he aimed for the raft. He felt afraid to pull the trigger.

Reed rolled his eyes, moving the gun away from Nina's head, and shot two bullets in the direction of Strand.

Strand grunted, lying down in the raft, missing the bullets. One of the bullets struck the raft with a loud pop as the air hissed from the hole.

"Did you get him?" Jack asked,

"If I didn't, the hypothermia will." He dragged Nina back into the dining room leaving Alicia and Jack stunned.

Daniel began to struggle against his binds, pressing his back against the arm of the bench. He could see the sun beginning to break the horizon.

Reed stepped back into the room and over to stand in between the two benches once more. "Kip! Get back in here and tie your girl up!"

Jack hauled Alicia into the dining area once more, "Turn around." He said softly, guiding her. He tied her up and guided her over to the bench to sit next to Chris. He peered down at her with sad eyes before adverting his attention onto Reed.

Reed dropped his arm from around Nina's neck to her waist and shoved her forward, "Put your hands behind your back, slut." He instructed with a dangerous tone, pocketing his handgun. He dug around his other pocket for the zip ties he was going to use on her wrist.

Nina scowled, acquiescing his request. She rolled her eyes to the ceiling, feeling him grab her forearms and pull her back.

An evil smirk tugged at his lips, pressing his body against hers, realizing he had full control of the situation now. He had an audience; this sense of power evoked all his senses. He pressed his lips against her ear, and moved one hand up the back of her jacket, inching up her back. His eyes moved around the group until they landed on Chris's glower. He smirked a short laugh, his breath hot and heavy, "Is somebody jealous?"

Nina's body tensed under his touch, tears welled in her eyes as she began to growl in a low voice, "Don't…"

"Reed, is that really necessary?" Jack inquired, feeling uncomfortable as he watched Reed basically violate Nina in front of the group. This was not the first time he had witnessed Reed take advantage of a woman but somehow this felt different. He reckoned it was because he had a connection with somebody on the vessel this time around.

Alicia gulped, turning her head, feeling the bindings tightening around her wrist.

Reed ignored Jack, his hands creeping around to Nina's front. One hand moved up to her breast, while the other hand inched down to her crotch, "I'm thinking we're going to have some fun later on…" He whispered into her ear, feeling her body shuddered under his touch.

"Don't…" Nina warned again, keeping her eyes closed.

"What'd you say? I don't think I heard you."

Nina started to fume, without contemplating the consequences, she gyrated and punched him across the face, "Don't you _ever_ touch me again!"

Reed staggered backwards, a hand instantly went up to his face. He could feel the blood immediately leak from his nostrils; it felt like water going up his nose. He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand; he then peered down at his bloody hand and then back up at Nina, "You stupid bitch! I think you broke my nose!"

He quickly slapped her hard across the face and sent her flying into the end of the bench.

She groaned, pushing her body up into a sitting position, she twisted herself around to glare up at him. She marshalled her breath, unable to look at anyone else but Reed. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, tasting the familiar nickel taste of blood.

Reed whipped out his pistol from his pocket, stepped up to her, and pressed the gun into the middle of her forehead, "I think your usefulness is over—"

"Reed, don't—Connor said—" Jack stepped forward, feeling this situation had gone farther and darker than any other time.

"The hell with what Connor said! My brother'd understand."

Nina peered up the barrel of the loaded gun, her eyes daring Reed to pull the trigger.

"Reed…" Jack started again, forcing himself to swallow, "We still need to find the keys to the boat."

Reed creaked his neck back and forth, cursing under his breath. He glared down at Nina again, "I'm not through with you yet…" He turned away from her, still keeping the pistol aimed at her head, "Jack, go search the boat."

Jack nodded slowly, "Just don't—"

"I said," Reed glared, emphasizing each word, "go search the god damn boat!"

Jack nodded, holding his hands up in defence before he left the room.

Reed composed himself, exhaling deeply, beginning to wave the pistol around, "Alright, then, who has the keys to the boat?"

"I don't know." Alicia answered; struggling against her binds.

"You gonna start lying now?" Reed taunted, returning his aim at Nina's head, "Let me remind you I have a gun pointed at your friend's head."

"Hey, that guy you shot, genius, was the one with the key." Ofelia spoke gently, trying not to anger Reed. The last thing she wanted to witness was Nina's murder. "You shot our captain."

"That true?" Reed looked around the room.

"Don't—Don't—don't hurt her." Travis pleaded, finally finding his voice. He felt paralyzed at witnessing someone—a teenager nonetheless— sexually assault a girl in front of him.

"I'm going to give you to the count of five to tell me where the key to the boat is. One. Two..."

Travis inhaled sharply, "Please, just stop, okay? Come on, man."

"Three…" Reed continued to count. The tension was high in the air.

"Strand. Like she said," Travis rolled his eyes over to Ofelia, "Strand, our captain, he has the keys."

"Four." Reed pulled the barrel back and jammed it against Nina's forehead.

Travis forced himself to swallow, "Hey! You just—you don't need the keys, okay? I can start the boat without the keys. I can wire the boat. Just let her go, just let Nina go."

Vida came into the room with a bounded Madison, she also had a gun pointed at the woman, "Everything under control?"

"Mom," Alicia stated, sounding extremely worried. She caught sight of blood oozing out from a wound on her mother's head.

"Maddy!" Travis blinked; it irked him to see his girlfriend with a gun pointed at her.

"I'm okay," Madison grimaced, her eyes fell on Reed and Nina, "I'm okay, Travis."

Madison was thrown onto the bench where Chris and Alicia sat.

Her eyes searched the room, "Where's Nick?"

"He wasn't there when I woke up." Alicia answered, shaking her head.

"I heard gunshots." Madison peered around the room once more. Her dark green eyes landed on Nina and Reed again.

"Strand abandoned the ship." Daniel spoke up, "They shot at him."

"Was he hit?"

"We don't know." Salazar answered Madison.

"Was he alone?"

Before Daniel could answer, Jack came back into the room from the promenade, "Strand yanked out the wheelhouse radio. No one else is here."

"Well, Travis here just bet Nina's life that he can start the boat without a key."

"So, watch them." Reed instructed to Vida, then he turned to Jack, "Find the spare radio. Reach out to Connor. Oh, and take your princess whore with you."

Jack pursed his lips, exhaling slowly, "Alicia, come on."

"No, no, no. She stays, she stays." Madison started to get up.

"Mom, don't. It's okay, it's okay. I'm okay." Alicia stepped over, stepping in between Jack and her mother, "I brought this on us. I can make it better. I trust him."

"Alright, come on, let's go." Jack took her arm, leading her over to the stairs that led below deck.

Reed turned to Nina, another smirk playing at his lips, "I guess luck is on your side—for now." He jabbed the gun into her forehead one final time before he moved to go pull Travis up to his feet.

Nina remained sitting there feeling completely violated. Hands free or not, she felt frozen in place. She turned her head away, her eyes fixated on the floor, tears brimming her bottom lids.


	9. Head Like a Hole pt 2

The sun crept high in the sky making the air hot and stale, Nick Clark stumbled through a cookie-cutter neighbourhood of stucco houses with clay tile roofs and rocky landscaping. Majority of the vicinity was surrounded by large military grade fences; it was obvious the military had once been there attempting to control the outbreak just as they had in L.A. The quietness of the area proved it was void of any life.

Nick moved over to one of the fences and squeezed his body through a break in the fence. He peered around before withdrawing a crumbled piece of paper from his pocket. He reread the scribbled address several times before stuffing it back into his pocket.

As he stepped further into the neighbourhood, he caught sight of a woman from afar, staggering in the street as if she was drunk. As she got closer, her features became clearer: she had long brown hair and the bottom half of her lip had been bitten off. Her eyes were sunken in and were halfway closed looking like two crescent moons. Nick started to mimic her movements while he listened to her raspy groan as they passed each other.

* * *

In the bridge, Travis Manawa shined a flashlight up a panel underneath the dashboard on the wheel of the ship. He frowned, analysing it closely, starting to doubt he was capable of the task. He took in a slow inhale, closing his eyes, telling himself he _could_ — he _had—_ to do this.

Reed huffed, "Look, crap face, if you're full of shit, why don't you save us both some time?" He stooped down to Travis's level, holding the gun out.

Travis exhaled, leaning his head up to peer out at Reed, "I got this. I just, uh…" He went back to looking at the array of wires. He popped a wire out of place and brought it down to another metal box of wires. It was too easy, this would similar to hotwiring a car, but Travis felt the need to stall. He contemplated that he might be able to find something down in the engine room to use against Reed. Perhaps something he could use to get Reed's gun. Travis cleared his throat, "Look, uh, this whole this is—look, its all computerised, okay? So I'm gonna have to override it from down in the engine room."

* * *

Once out of view, below deck, Alicia started to walk ahead of Jack in order to lead him to the room she shared with her brother, stepbrother, and Nina. She halted when she felt Jack tug back on her arms, drawing her to him. Her body tensed, she paced a few steps forward, "What are you doing? Don't touch me."

Jack tailed behind her, his hands began to fondle the wires around her wrist. He whispered lowly in her ear, "Relax. I can loosen these."

Alicia twirled around, shaking her head, "What part of 'don't touch me' do you not understand?"

Jack reached out for her, feeling her flinch when his hand made contact with her arm, "Alicia, please…"

She continued to shake her head, taking another step back, "You baited me. You lied to me. How do I know you're not any better than Reed?"

"I didn't come here to hurt anyone."

"Then what _did_ you come here for?" Alicia narrowed her light jade eyes, despite knowing Jack and his crew came for the _Abigail_ , deep down she felt there was an alternative motive.

Jack closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh; he made a pained expression. He slowly blinked his dark eyes open, "You have to understand… I had no choice."

"Why, someone put a gun to _your_ head?" Alicia scowled; it still disturbed her to see what Reed had done to Nina. She bit the inside of her lip as she contemplated why she had told her mother she had trusted him; the fact was she did not trust Jack in the slightest.

" _I had no choice_ ," he repeated, "Reed, that's his function."

"To what? Sexually harass someone? To threaten people's lives?" Alicia watched him attentively, "Or is it all for show to scare people into getting what he wants?"

Jack peered down to the floor, shaking his head, knowing there was nothing he could say to defend Reed for his actions. He respired, avoiding the topic all together, "We all have a function, Alicia."

"And what's my function?" She glared brutishly.

He brought his eyes up to meet hers; he could feel his cheeks growing warm. He cleared his throat, avoiding the question again; "Connor will civilize things when he gets here. He keeps us together…but he's not a violent man."

"But he allows violence." Alicia countered, tightening her lips.

Jack looked away again, his gaze wafted to the ceiling, "I have to talk to Connor. You'll have to show me where the portable is."

"Why should I?" Alicia took another step back, "What happens after you make the call?"

"Connor gages—" He started to say but was cut off.

"What happens after you make the call?" She iterated, articulating each word.

"He comes to the ship and assesses…" Jack trailed off; he turned his eyes to peer down the hallway with a guilty expression. He knew exactly what followed after Connor judged but he would never be able to bring himself to tell her the truth.

Alicia contemplated his words before she spoke again, "And then I'm safe?"

"I promise," he gulped, and reached out to touch her upper arm; he rubbed it up and down in a comforting motion, "I promise."

Alicia stood in a stupor, "And what about my family?" she uttered softly, her eyes fixated on the stairs.

Jack released his grip, forcing himself to swallow as he looked down at her, "Connor… listens to me."

Alicia kept her head facing the stairs while her eyes shifted over to look at Jack cynically. "Was any of it true? Anything you told me?"

Jack closed his eyes longer than he intended to, he began to nod his head, "Versions of."

"I wonder what part was a lie…" Alicia turned her head to face him again; she was unsure she really wanted to know the answer.

"Alicia," Jack started, pressing his lips together and stuck his tongue in between them as he moistened them, "You need to understand, when my brother died… Connor saved me. He, um, he put me to use—when someone saves your life, you owe them. You just do."

She stepped back, glaring up at him, "How many people came before me?"

"I-I'd say a dozen or so, maybe more…" Jack faltered, finding the truth was pouring off his lips easier than he anticipated. He was unable to meet Alicia's gaze, feeling his cheeks flush out of guilt and embarrassment.

"How many are still alive?" Alicia asked with disgust.

Jack crossed his arms over his chest; he leant back against the railing on the wall, "I don't enjoy any of this, Alicia. You have to believe me." His dark eyes tilted up until their eyes met, "I'm sorry about the one that Reed shot…I'm sorry with how he treated your friend…and I'm sorry—"

"If you were that sorry, you'd stop this and let us go." Alicia snapped.

Something about what Alicia said churned something inside Jack. He crossed his arms tighter across his chest as he stared down at her with a concerning look.

* * *

Back in the dining area, the ambiance in the room was overwrought and filled with a faint sense of macabre. Daniel struggled against his binds; his dark eyes watched Vida closely to make sure she did not notice his movements.

Madison shifted her weight; she felt the wires digging into her wrist as she wiggled them, "Did you see Nick when you were on watch?" She asked Chris, keeping her voice low.

"No." Chris answered, tearing his eyes off Vida and landed them on Madison.

Ofelia glanced over at the two, "He might have come up when we were on the stern…"

"And the only one who would know is in the sea." Daniel added as he watched Vida grab a tumbler glass and a decanter of whisky.

"There's only three of them," Madison said, looking down at her wrist and then back up at Salazar, "You think you could get loose?"

"Keep her distracted," He answered in a harsh whisper, his thumbs continued to prod the wire around his wrist. He carefully watched Vida pour herself a glass.

Nina sat on her knees with her legs partially swung out to one side; her upper body leaned against the bench. She stared out at the centre of the room with a sour pout. It was becoming difficult to breathe; she could still feel Reed's hands groping her. She needed air, she needed her pills, and she needed to get out of the room before she had an anxiety attack. She closed her eyes, exhaled slowly, and got to her feet.

Vida noticed the movement out of the corner of her eye, she slammed the tumbler down, " _Sit down_."

Nina did not respond her mind was elsewhere; she continued to cross the room in the direction of the door that led below deck to the sleeping quarters.

Vida came around the bar and stepped quickly over to Nina and blocked her path. Vida held her gun up, glaring, "Hey! You deaf? I said, sit down."

With a blank expression, Nina stated meekly, "I have to pee."

Before Vida could object Reed appeared, leading Travis down the stairs from the bridge of the ship. He walked into the room, one hand gripping the back of Travis's jacket while the other hand held a gun to the back of his neck, "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Nina lowered her eyes to the floor, unable to meet Reed's glare, feeling her voice become caught in the back of her throat.

"Girl says she has to take a piss." Vida looked over at her confidant.

"Aw, you gotta tinkle? You could always, you know, just piss your pants." Reed said to Nina with a goaded tone. He shoved Travis forward while he peered back at his pregnant associate, "Why the hell isn't she zip-tied?"

"I thought—"

"Well, you thought wrong." Reed interrupted.

"Do I have to do everything around here?" He grumbled, pushing Travis once more, "Vi, watch him. I'll take the little hussy to the toilet."

Vida rolled her eyes as she respired with annoyance; she traded places with Reed and poked her gun into Travis's back.

Reed cleared the space between he and Nina; he grabbed her upper arm and pulled up to jostle her forward. He slid one hand down to rest on her backside, the other hand resting on her upper back. He roughly guided her in the direction of the door that led below deck, "Let's go, smutbag."

"Geroff me," Nina jerked forward, throwing his grip off her; feeling his touch boosted her confidence to retaliate. She twirled around, her face scrunched in a hard stare, "I told you to never touch me again." She started to wonder why Reed seemed to have this personal vendetta against her.

Reed groaned under his breath, clearly aggravated, "Listen, you stupid bitch, I have the gun which means I'm in control. Don't tell me what to do."

"Why do you talk to the young lady like that?" Daniel asked, continuing to struggle with the wire around his wrist. He told himself once he was free he would give the boy a beating he would never forget.

"I'll talk to her however I want to, old man. Do us all a favour, and shut your god damn mouth before I shoot your daughter's other shoulder."

Daniel's blood began to boil; he tightened his fist, and ticked his tongue at the threat against his daughter. He would die before anyone laid a hand on his daughter.

Ofelia blinked wide eyes as she looked away; it surprised her how much a young man could instil such a sense of fear. He came off as being erratic and irate—a dangerous combination.

Reed then grabbed Nina and spun her around, "Now, let's hurry it up, we don't got all day." He purposefully smacked her rump, "Move!"

Nina's eyes enlarged as his hand made contact with her body; she jolted in place for a second. She started to rethink if she should go below deck with Reed, but at this point she felt she had no other choice. He hauled her over to the door, threw it open, and dragged her down the stairs.

Chris's gaze narrowed, keenly watching the events folding before him. As soon as Nina and Reed were out of view he shifted his eyes over to Vida. He felt useless and powerless in this situation; it piqued him to see his father being held at gunpoint.

Madison kept her eyes lowered to the floor; Reed's misogynistic behaviour made her feel uncomfortable. She had encountered boys like him before—boys who preyed on women because they viewed them as weak and treated them as objects for their own pleasures. However, what made Reed dangerous was that he also exhibited sociopathic predispositions.

* * *

Back on land, Nick dribbled a basketball as he went up an inclined street, finally reaching the house he had been searching for. He tossed the basketball against the garage and went up a window to peer inside the house. He squinted his eyes but the sun made it impossible to peer into the condo. He stepped over to the door and rapped three times.

He waited for a moment before reaching out again to knock when he heard a hammer of a gun click. He turned around, and quickly held his hands up in defence," Whoa, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Don't shoot. Don't shoot."

The Latino man—his name was Luis—narrowed his dark eyes, bringing the gun up hirer.

"Strand sent me. Strand. Look, look, look." Nick reached into his pocket and retrieved the piece of paper with the address written out, "See? Abigail. Okay?"

Luis pocked his gun, starting to trust the kid, "About time."

"Well, we had some boat trouble—" Nick started.

"Tss, tss, tss. Off my porch." Luis instructed, waving one of his hands backwards.

After opening the garage, he began to pack the trunk of his car, working diligently; Luis knew they were pressed for time.

"Hey, man, what the hell is this place?" Nick walked over to him with a bag in hand.

Luis answered, taking the bag from him, "An Abigail home experience. Phase one was at 90% capacity. We were just about to break ground on phase two."

"So why not just stay here? You could secure the gate."

"Seems like a lonely place to start the new world. Besides, I prefer Mexico. Any other questions?" Luis said rather offhandedly.

"You are the person getting all of us across the border, right?"

Luis shrugged, "Eh, if you tidy up. You're definitely not rubbing that stench on my leather interiors." He began to chuckle.

Nick mocked his laughter before his face dropped, "Why not? You gonna bring your car on the boat?"

"Um, not the point—" Luis froze as he watched Nick purposefully run his fingers across a section of the car with a loud squeak, "Do not touch the car. Go ahead, just—just use the last of the water pressure." He gestured behind him back at the house and began to rub the red streak with the arm of his coat. He turned his head, watching Nick go into the house, "What did you mean by 'all of us'?"

* * *

Alicia would never consider the bedroom she shared with the other teenagers very spacious. There were two sets of bunk beds situated perpendicular to one another. There was only one tiny window on the far wall; on the left wall was a set of double tier lockers. Jack's eyes flew around the sleeping space before he landed them on Alicia, "This where you sleep?"

Alicia took a moment to answer, "Yeah… or on deck when it's warm."

"Which bed is yours?" Jack inquired, as he wanted to keep a conversation going between them.

"Um, that one…" Alicia nodded to the right wall, "I sleep on the top bunk."

Jack stepped over to the bunk and sat on the bottom bed. He shifted his head to a camping backpack sitting on the end of the bed. He examined it, thinking it looked ready to go at a moments notice; he made a double take to the crowbar attached to it. He turned to reface Alicia, a small smile playing at his lips, "So, this is where you talked to me?"

Alicia caught on to his attempt of carrying on a conversation; she could have answered his question but decided to counter it with another question of her own, "Don't you have a call to make?"

Jack pursed his lips, he leaned his elbows into his knees, giving a quick shrug. He did not move or show any indications he wanted her to find the portable just yet. An obstinate silence quickly settled over them.

Alicia swallowed dryly, her eyes bounced from the floor to Jack. Slowly, she inched forward, and spoke up softly, "The, uh, the portable is underneath the bed."

Jack opened his knees wider and bent his upper body down to reach for the portable radio. He waved his hand around under the bed until it came into contact with a cool metal punnet. He stuck his tongue between his lips and yanked on the radio until it was in his lap. He moved his dark eyes up and smiled faintly at Alicia. He parted his lips to say something when he noticed a dark blur pass in the gangway.

"What the hell?" He uttered softly, he put the radio aside and went out into the hallway. His brow frowned at the sight, "Reed?"

Alicia trailed behind Jack; she watched from the doorframe.

Reed halted in his tracks, spinning around enough to look back; his grip was tight on the hood of Nina's jacket, "Yo, Kip, you make the call to Connor yet?"

Jack shook his head, "Uh, no, we—I was just about to—"

"Then what the hell are you just standing here for? Go make the goddamn call. I gotta take smutbag here to the toilet,' Reed said with irritation, "When I get back, have a status update."

Jack nodded slowly, turning to go back into the bedroom with Alicia.

* * *

After Reed and Nina left, Vida let out a heavy sigh as she poked Travis in the back with her gun, "Sit down. You try anything, I'll start shooting."

Travis reluctantly sat on the bench Vida nudged him to. He looked down at Daniel and then up at his son for a moment before he met eyes with Madison.

Vida went back over to the bar and placed the gun on the counter. She picked up the tumbler once more and stared intently at the glass in her hand. She brought it up to her lips, taking a strong whiff of the tepid liquid.

Madison watched Vida for a moment before she spoke, "Go ahead, one drink won't hurt."

"I just like the smell." Vida retorted, her eyes searching the room once more.

"Good for you. Wish I could say the same…" Madison trailed off before asking another question, "When are you due?"

Vida landed her eyes on Madison, she shrugged, "Don't know, lost track."

Madison smirked softly, "If you were counting before all this, you're still counting."

Vida rolled her eyes, staring down at the dark liquid in the glass, "Four weeks."

"Oh, any day now." Madison tried to sound surprised, "What are you having?"

Vida brought her eyes up once more, "A girl."

"Oh, it's a girl? Picked any names?"

Vida narrowed her eyes, wondering why this woman was asking so many questions like she actually cared about the pregnancy, "What is this, my shower?"

"She your first?" Madison continued to pry.

Vida put down the glass and respired, "What's it to you, lady?"

Madison looked around the room, hoping Daniel was getting closer to getting out of his binds, "They say the first is the hardest. Second pregnancy's worse in ways."

"Yeah?" Vida responded offhandedly.

"You know the pain at any moment is less than what's coming. You know any potential complications—might have been through some. And you know the moment that tiny thing comes into the world, you're weaker because you would die for him." Madison spoke with a distant tone to her voice. She bit her lip at the memory, unable to fully envision it for her own sake.

* * *

Reed slammed his fist on the bathroom door, "What the hell is taking so long?"

Nina peered up at the door with a soft exhale as she rethought how she would execute her plan.

"Just a minute," She said, fumbling with the lighter. Her eyes landed on the smoke bomb before her. It was the only one she had on hand and she knew she could not waste it. She lit the three embedded matches, knowing she had exactly five seconds before it detonated with dense smoke. She stood, cracked the door open, and tossed it out at Reed.

Reed took a step back and blinked, "What the—" He began to cough as smoke quickly filled the passageway.

Using all her might, Nina threw open the door and tackled him into the wall with a loud grunt.

Reed groaned, dropping the gun. He coughed again, straining his eyes to see through the heavy dissipating smoke. He pushed back with a growl; it did not take much effort to throw Nina to the ground.

Nina marshalled her breath with a few coughs. She started to crawl, feeling for the gun. Her arm moved around until she felt her fingers come in contact with the handle of the pistol.

The smoke was beginning to clear enough for Reed to see what Nina was doing. He snarled as he spotted his gun. He stomped his foot on her hand and kicked the gun back toward the bathroom door. He let out a breathy laugh at her attempt to gain control of the upper hand.

He was stronger and larger, and was able to quickly overpower Nina. He pinned her to the ground and straddled her, attempting to restrain her.

Nina cried out, struggling against him; she lifted one hand up to his face and dug her nails into flesh; she scratched him across the bridge of his nose to the top of his left cheek.

Reed grabbed the neck of her shirt and smacked her with his other fist. He blow was enough to stun her and make her body go still.

* * *

Meanwhile, as this was going on, Jack pressed the microphone close to his lips as he spoke to Connor, "There's a guy on board, knows how to rig the engine. Over."

Connor responded, "We're inbound. Should be there in a little over half an hour. Did you find the girl? Over."

"Alicia? Yes. Over." Jack looked at her as he spoke her name.

"I look forward to meeting her. Over and out." Connor said as the radio made a click.

"Copy that." Jack nodded, putting the microphone down next to the portable. He started to say something when a loud commotion coming from the hallway cut him off.

He and Alicia exchanged worried glances as they both dashed into the smoky corridor.

Alicia coughed, straining her eyes against the smoky air. She wondered where all the smoke had come from but decided it was not the time after seeing two figures brawling. She started to sprint forward to help Nina when she felt arms wrap around her waist and pull her back.

"Get off me!" She thrashed against Jack, managing to knock his stomach with an elbow in the struggle.

Jack pulled her back into the bedroom, tightening his grip on her, "Alicia! Stop—just stop"

"No, he's hurting my friend!" She fought against him the best she could with her hands bound behind her back. "Why won't you do something?"

"I can't." It was all Jack was able to muster as he held onto Alicia until she stopped moving.

* * *

Reed flipped Nina over and yanked her arms behind her back, "Almost had me, didn't you, you little bitch." Straddling her legs, he pressed his knees into her thighs to keep a hold on her. He put her wrist together and swiftly wrapped the zip tie around them and tied it extra tight. He then reached into his left pocket and withdrew a piece of cloth that he was going to use to gag her with.

Nina had long stopped struggling, knowing it was useless. She winced in pain; Reed was being extra rough on purpose. She cursed to herself for she had been so close in getting the gun away from him.

"You know, I heard you were resourceful but god damn… I must say that was impressive. Kinda gave me a buzz," Reed smirked, pulling back on the strip of cloth in her mouth. He strained Nina's neck backwards as he tied it tightly behind her head, "I'm going to have so much fun tearing you apart later."


	10. Liquid Courage

**_This chapter took me way longer to complete than I had anticipated (totally not sorry for the length, it's worth it)! I feel I worked really hard on this one. A shout out to K-Yers for your help and motivational wisdom. Anyway, readers, I hope you enjoy!_**

* * *

Jack held Alicia against the wall next to the door in the bedroom. One of his palms was pressed near her head; his other hand was level with her chest. He gestured the hand with his words as he spoke in a low voice, "Alicia, you have to understand, there is nothing I can do. Not with Vida on board and Connor inbound. If anything were to happen to Reed because of me—"

"Why are you lying?" Alicia interrupted; scowling as she shook her head in antipathy. It made her uncomfortable with how close Jack had gotten to her.

"I'm not, I promise..." Jack stared raptly into Alicia's eyes; he actually was telling the truth in the matter. He paused, beginning to whisper, "Please, you have to believe me, Alicia. Reed is Connor's brother…if anything were to happen to him under _my_ watch…I'm as good as dead."

Alicia started to nod her head, beginning to understand.

"Kipling!" Reed's voice called out from the corridor. He then appeared in the doorframe of the bedroom, "What'd Connor say?"

Jack quickly stepped back from Alicia, he began to fidget with the collar of his shirt, "Oh, um, he, uh, he said he was inbound. Should be here in under an hour."

He looked over at his companion and quickly noticed the new scratches on Reed's face. His right cheek was starting to bruise from where Nina had socked him, and his bottom lip was slightly swollen.

"Good," Reed met eyes with Alicia for a moment, ignoring her look of detest, "I gotta get daddy dearest to start the boat. When you're done, doing whatever it is your doing, take your little princess whore upstairs."

"Where's Nina?" Alicia asked with a hardened expression.

Reed cackled, taunting her, "Aww, you worried about what happened to your friend? Worried about what I did to her?"

"What _did_ you do with her?" Jack intervened, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Don't worry about that little bitch, I've got her contained."

"What'd you do with her?" Jack repeated.

"Relax, Kip. She's still alive if that's what you're asking. Got her all tied up in one of the bedrooms…" Reed trailed off.

Alicia swallowed dryly; not liking the way Reed was staring at her. She tried her best to avoid his gaze.

Jack blinked with a blank face, pondering what exactly Reed might have been implying, "Since when was that okay?"

Reed snorted under his breath, "Oh, don't be such a pussy, Kip. You know you want a taste…" His eyes scanned over Alicia as he licked his cracked lips; he studied her the way a marauder observed treasure. Reed thought about how attractive Alicia was; pre-apocalypse she would be the girl way out of his league. He could not help but wonder what she would look like naked; a carnal fantasy played in the back of his mind. Why should Jack be the one to get the girl? He thought to himself. After a few seconds of contemplation he realised his feelings of jealousy had nothing to do with Jack and Alicia. It was all about being in control, being alpha, and dominating the situation.

"It's not like that." Jack countered. He gathered his companion's demons were starting to be unleashed—he was a loose cannon—ready to wreak havoc. The normal procedure was to take the vessel, raid it for supplies, and kill those deemed unfit (not torture them in the process). This time felt different: Was it because of his connection with Alicia? Or did it have to do with how Reed was escalating? Either one, Jack thought, it was becoming easier for Reed to dehumanise his victims.

"Keep telling yourself that." Reed sniggered, "I don't have time for chit-chat. I'm going upstairs; we got a boat to start." He eyed Alicia one more time before he left the vicinity.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Alicia spoke up, breaking the chilling silence that had swept over them.

"Reed's become a ticking time bomb," Jack answered under his breath as he moved his eyes around until they landed on the backpack where he spotted the crowbar; an epiphany struck him. He brought his eyes back over to meet Alicia's jade orbs, "Do you trust me?"

"What?" Alicia asked in confusion, slightly taken aback by his question. Her mind was still focused on the exchange between Jack and Reed.

"Do you trust me?" He reiterated.

"No," Alicia answered bluntly, "Why should I?"

"Because I might know a way to save your family," Jack stated, going over to the backpack.

Alicia arched her eyebrows sceptically, "How?"

Jack took the crowbar from the Velcro straps it was attached to, and looked over at Alicia, "A mutiny."

"A mutiny?" Alicia nearly laughed at the word until she realised that Jack, Reed, and Vida were basically pirates. She kept herself against the wall, and moved her eyes down to the crowbar in his hands.

Jack nodded, tapping the hook end of the iron bar against the palm of his hand as he contemplated how exactly he would execute his revolt against Reed and Vida. This moment, he figured, could be a window of opportunity to escape the clutches of Connor. He did not trust Alicia's family, not after what Alex had told him about what they had done to her and Jake, but he trusted Alicia. "Okay, so if I—no, wait—maybe if we…"

His eyes enlarged as it all came to play in his head, "If I untie you, you promise not to run?"

"Where would I run to?" Alicia refuted with a dull tone. She wondered if he thought she was that dense.

"Alicia," Jack looked slightly offended, "I'm trying to help you."

All Alicia could do was stare through him.

Jack cleared his throat, his grip tightening around the crowbar, "We're only going to get one chance at this and it has to be before Connor gets here…"

"I'm listening," Alicia said with a creased brow.

"So, I'm gonna untie you, and you'll put this crowbar up your sleeve but you still gotta act like you're tied up when I take you upstairs." Jack looked up at the ceiling for a split second before he returned his gaze to Alicia, "Now, once the boats started, Reed normally waits at the stern acting like a lookout…so I'll put you as close to him as I can. Then I'll take Vida, knock her unconscious… long enough to distract Reed. With him distracted, you can hit him with this crowbar—"

"You want me to kill him?" Alicia cut him off. There was a sense of disbelief and confusion intertwined in her voice. "Why can't you?"

"Just think of Reed as one of those lead heads," Jack sighed as he tucked the crowbar in the belt of his jeans before withdrawing a switchblade from his back pocket, "You've got this, I believe in you." A small grin played at the corners of his mouth.

"And then what happens?" Alicia kept a straight face; she continued to stand with her back pressed against the wall.

"We toss Reed overboard, take Vida to shore, and then we sail away to...wherever. Connor won't be able to find us; he doesn't know how to read the radar correctly. That was _my_ function."

* * *

Upstairs, during all the commotion downstairs, an uneasy silence had encircled the room. It was almost painful how quiet it had become.

Madison had looked over at Salazar to see if he was any closer to becoming loose.

He shook his head, knowing why she gawking at him.

She nodded to herself and peered over at Vida, watching the woman stare downward in deep thought, "Is she kicking?"

Vida snapped her dark eyes over to Madison, "What's it to you?"

"It's a strange feeling the first time you feel them kick, isn't it? It's that defining moment when you realise there is something—someone—growing inside you…" Madison trailed off; a distant look clouded her vision.

Vida's face dropped as she shrugged, "I guess…" She went back to looking down at the glass in her hand.

"When was the last time you felt her move?"

Vida nearly slammed the tumbler glass on the counter, "Excuse me?"

"Just a question," Madison shrugged, "When was the last time you felt her move?"

"I'm on the go a lot. I barely notice." Vida grabbed the gun from the counter and stepped around the bar.

"I lost one," Madison began, looking toward the stern, "between Nick and Alicia. One week her heart was beating—bap, bap, bap, bap—too fast to count. Next check-up, it just stopped."

Vida closed her eyes and exhaled, annoying by this woman's pestering, "I'm healthy. My kid's healthy."

"Taking prenatal vitamins?"

Vida scoffed, "As if I'm gonna find any—"

"When exactly was the last time you felt her move?"

"Shut up." Vida took a step forward, narrowing her eyes to a pinprick, tightening her grip around the gun.

Madison looked back at the young woman, "If she died, she may have turned."

"She'd feel that, though, wouldn't she?" Ofelia asked candidly, truly wondering what would happen if a baby died in the womb nowadays.

"She would have, if that _thing_ was moving inside her." Madison answered, knowing she was pressing Vida's buttons.

Vida moved over to Madison, holding the gun into her chin, "I said shut the hell up." She leaned down to the woman's eye level, "I'll shoot you and I'll toss you overboard. Don't tempt me."

Reed sauntered back into the room, pistol in hand, "Is there a problem here?"

Vida kept her eyes locked onto Madison like magnets, "She's just trying to get a rise out of me…"

"Trying to? Sit down!" Reed commanded with a stern tone. Ping-ponging his gaze around the room, he noticed everyone was staring at him. They most likely were wondering about his dishevelled appearance, and Nina's absence. "Bet you people are wondering where Nina's at, am I right?"

He let out a breathy laugh, catching eyes with a glowering Chris, "Wondering what I did with your girlfriend?"

"She's my friend," Chris said shortly.

"Oh, right, 'friend'" Reed nodded, putting his fingers up to gesture quote symbols, with a wink, "You wanna know what I did with your 'friend'?"

Chris pursed his lips tightly, his dark eyes manifesting rage.

Reed started to speak with a malevolent smirk; there was a taunting tone to his voice, "You wanna hear about how she cried? Begged me to stop, begged me not to do it…but you think I was bad? Should have seen the shit Jack did to your pretty little sister friend. Let me tell ya, Connor's got big plans for those girls—"

"Enough with the boy," Daniel interrupted; he could see Reed's bullshit meter ticking in the red zone.

Reed turned his attention to Salazar, holding his gun out with a lazy grip, "Hey! What'd I tell you about telling me what to do, old man?"

Madison's body tensed up as Alicia was mentioned. She convinced herself Reed was fibbing and everything he was saying was to elicit trepidation.

"You want me to start this engine or what?" Travis said abruptly, not liking the rigid aether of the room.

Reed pressed his tongue on the back of his teeth, his eyes roaming around one more time before he went over to Travis and tugged on his sleeve so the man would stand, "Let's go then, shithead! You've got fifteen minutes tops to start the boat…"

He shoved Travis in the direction of the stairs that led up to the control room.

* * *

Back on land, Luis brought his sports car to a rolling stop, reggaeton music blasted from the speakers for a moment before he took the keys out of the ignition.

Nick emerged from the passenger side, clean of all blood and adorning clean clothes: a navy blue button down (he had rolled the sleeves), and dark denim jeans. He started to go around to meet Luis at the trunk, "Okay, okay, so how difficult is just a few extra people?"

"Well, it's not like adding guest to a dinner reservation," Luis said after opening the trunk, "Okay? This was finely calibrated. It took time."

"Okay, is there any other way into Mexico?" Nick queried.

"We got to go through the flotilla. I secured transit for two," Luis held up two fingers, "I got money for two. Adding eight more? It's a problem."

Nick grabbed two suitcases out of the trunk, "Okay, well, Strand must have planned for us."

Luis came around the car to stand near Nick, holding a suitcases of his own, "Victor is impulsive." He countered.

"So you've known him a long time?"

"Victor?" Luis said, staring to walk in the direction of the shore.

Nick nodded, his steps staggered down the slope, "Yeah."

"Years. Since he met Tom." Luis laughed, ignoring the approaching biters behind them.

"Thomas…Abigail?"

"Uh-huh. My mom works for the Abigail's. For the father, now the son. She raised Tom with me and my sister. She and my mother are staying at the Baja house now."

"Okay, so it's safe there?" Nick asked, tossing the suitcases over the edge of the small cliff that hovered over the beach, "I mean you wouldn't let your mother stay if it weren't."

Luis picked up a rope that led down to the rocky beach where the launch sat. He laughed, "You don't know my mother, man. My mother would be safe anywhere, in any world. Especially this one."

As he unveiled the dinghy, he turned back to Nick with a smile, "Death is a way to new life."

* * *

Up on the bridge, in the control room, Reed aimed his pistol at Travis as he watched the man work diligently, "Walk me through it, crapface." He said with an irritated tone.

Travis raised his eyebrows and let out a small scoff, wondering if Reed talked down to everyone he interacted with. He thought the boy was extremely disrespectful and sadistic.

"This boat is complicated," he started, clearing his throat, "I think we should have gone down to the engine room—"

"I think you can start it from here, Travis. When Connor shows up, for your sake, I'd suggest you have it running. Now let's go, shithead. Prove your value." Reed jerked his gun with the last of his words.

Travis let out a heavy sigh, knowing he was lying about how difficult it was to start the boat but a part of him wanted to keep stalling, "And if I can't…"

"Then I start shooting your people off one by one until you do—starting with your piece of shit son."

* * *

In the main gathering area, everyone waited uneasily until the soft purr of the engines filled the room. Vida, who was standing next to the bar again, respired heavily, "Finally."

As if on cue, Jack and Alicia came back into the room. Alicia walked in front of Jack with her hands behind her back; her poker-faced expression concealed any indication she had been harmed in anyway.

Jack guided her over to the farthest corner of the room, in order to get her as close to the stern as possible, he sat her down next to her mother on the bench. He could feel the glares coming from all directions; he wondered what Reed has said or done. Whatever it had been, Jack knew he was automatically guilty by association.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Madison turned her head to the left and whispered the question to her daughter. Her eyes scanned Alicia looking for any sign that she had been harmed; even if Reed had been lying, it irked her that her daughter had been alone with Jack in the first place.

Alicia nodded, "I'm okay." Her eyes followed Jack as he moved over to Vida. She could feel the weight of the crowbar up her right sleeve and her mind concentrated on how Jacks' plan would play out. Could she actually go through with killing Reed? She asked herself for what felt like the hundredth time.

Jack forced himself to swallow, his palms beginning to feel clammy. He casually ambled over to Vida, he tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, "They, uh, give you any problems?"

"Nah," Vida looked out at everyone from the corner of her eyes, she swirled the liquid in the tumbler she was holding, "What happened downstairs?" She turned her eyes back onto Jack, feeling slightly curious as to what had occurred below decks, wanting to know the extent of Reeds' actions.

"Don't worry about it," Jack said offhandedly, rubbing the back of his neck, trying hard not to look as nervous as he felt.

Vida stared at him for a moment before she rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

"Yeah, whatever's right," Jack snapped, finding his words out of character for himself, "Why don't you go downstairs and keep watch over Nina. Reed's got her stashed away in one of the bedrooms…"

Vida's brow deeply furrowed as she pursed her lips, "Since when did you get to tell me what to do?"

"Since Reed told me I could," Jack respired heavily, running his hands through his hair. "What are you doing still standing there for? I asked you to go do something—go!" Jack raised his voice, needing her to leave his sight. He knew with her being there it hindered his chance of taking control of the situation and the last thing he wanted to do was to physically harm his pregnant companion.

Vida frowned with confusion at Jack's sudden shift in behaviour. She shook her head as she picked up her gun.

"I'll get you when Connor gets here." Jack said as he watched her leave the room. He waited a moment before he grabbed a tumbler off the top shelf. He then lifted the decanter of whisky and poured himself a drink. He emptied the tumbler in one gulp and then leisurely refilled his glass; he told himself he needed some liquid courage.

"Drinking on the job?" Reed's taunting voice came from the stairs as he led Travis back into the gathering area.

"Thought the occasion called for a shot," Jack lied fluently before he tossed back the dark liquid.

Reed shoved his hostage onto the bench and observed the room; the power he felt in that moment inflated his ego. With a small smile, he nodded his head in agreement, "Right on. I think it's a little premature…but I dig. Pour me one."

Jack caught eyes with Alicia as he placed his glass down on the counter. He shifted his gaze downward to the tumbler left behind by Vida and then turned his attention back onto Reed, "I'm thinking, now with the boat started, we should be watching out for Connor and the others..." He said as blasé as possible.

"Excuse me?" Reed's smirk dropped.

Jack knew he had set his plan into motion with that statement. He repeated himself, "We should be on the lookout for Connor, not sharing shots."

"Don't tell me what to do," Reed scowled, "now pour me a God damn drink, Kipling."

Jack defied Reed's request as he remained in place.

"You know what," Reed shook his head, beginning to make his way over to the minibar, "I'll do it myself."

"Have at it, I'll go signal Connor." Jack moved around the bar to head to the stern. His confidence grew as he started to understand what he was doing, and how he was irritating Reed by taking charge of the situation.

As he passed his partner, Reed shoved Jack back with a small growl, " _I'll_ go signal my brother." He pocketed his gun and pulled out a flare gun as he made his way to the back of the boat.

Jack followed; as he trailed behind Reed he withdrew his gun. His confidence began to slip as he felt his palms grow sweaty once more, his heartrate skyrocket, and his stomach begin to churn.

Salazar twisted his torso to witness what was about to unfold.

Madison and Travis exchanged looks; both curious as to what was happening.

Alicia gulped; her jade eyes tracked Reed and Jack's movements. The crowbar up her sleeve felt as if it suddenly gained extra weight. She closed her eyes, unsure if she could go through with the plan. 'Just remember, if things go south, I'm gonna need you to hit him with this crowbar' She repeated Jack's words in her head.

Reed stood peering out at the horizon for any signs of an approaching boat when it dawned on him, "Where's Vida?"

He frowned at the silence and felt his brows draw further together when he heard a hammer of a gun clicking back. He cursed under his breath and slowly swirled around. "Really? A mutiny?" He said with scepticism.

Jack locked eyes with Reed, a determined expression etched on his face while he held the gun out at arm's length and up to eye level. "I'm taking the _Abgail_."

Reed appeared unfazed. He began to chuckle and it leisurely grew into laughter, "You can't be serious, tell me you're not being serious..." He inhaled sharply, trying to swallow back his laughter, "Oh, man, you really are pathetic. But I get it; you thought you could use this opportunity to accomplish your own ends. Sail off into the sunset with your new princess whore…" He gestured the flare gun as he beamed. He shifted his eyes between Jack and Alicia.

Jack tried to remain as brave as possible even though deep down he was wavering if he was making the right decision. He held the gun up a little higher, beginning to hold it with two hands, "I—I can put you on that raft and give you a chance or I can make it easy on all of us and kill you."

"You and I both know you ain't pulling that trigger. You're too much of a chicken shit."

Jack's hands quivered, his finger hovered above the trigger. His could feel his heart pounding against his chest. Taking in a shaky breath, he shot the gun as a warning shot; the bullet struck the table behind Reed. A couple of the playing cards on the table went flying.

"Whoa!" Reed's eyes widened, slightly taken aback. After a moment, he sniggered, "My man finally grew some balls." He started to cackle, finding this entire situation comical.

"Why are you laughing? How could any of this be funny? I'm serious, Reed. I'm taking the _Abigail_." Jack said with a stern expression, "Now, drop the gun, turn around and put your hands behind your back. You know I don't wanna hurt anyone."

Reed remained stationary, "Yeah, that's your problem, Kip. You're too soft and that's the kind of thing that'll get you killed."

Vida came scarpering back into the room, gun in hand, "What happened? I heard a gunshot—" She cut herself off at the sight; it confused her.

Jack instinctively swivelled, lowering his aim off of Reed, completely distracted by his pregnant counterpart.

Reed took advantage of the situation. Using his flare gun, he knocked the pistol out of Jack's hands and then swiftly knelt down to pick it up.

Jack blinked, realizing what was happening, a great look of defeat swept over him. He knew he was experiencing first-hand what it meant to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"What're you gonna do now, sport?" Reed taunted, aiming both the pistol and flare gun at Jack. He shook his head, "Vida, tie this cow-hearted traitor up."

Vida sighed, knowing better than to question Reed's demand. She put the gun in her pocket and withdrew wire from her other pocket as she approached Jack. She yanked his arms back and proceeded to wrap the wire around his wrist.

Jack rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and bit the back of his tongue. As he lowered his dark orbs, he met eyes with Alicia. He hoped she realised that this was the opportune moment for her to put plan B into action.

As Reed pocketed the flare gun, he spoke to Jack with a disappointing tone, "I have to hand it to ya, nice effort. You almost had me."

"Almost," Jack sighed, unable to look Reed in the eye.

Alicia inhaled slowly, finding herself frozen in place, unable to go through with the plan. Jack had come so far but his failure fuelled negative thoughts of what would happen to her if she also failed. She turned her head to stare out at the stern, not wanting to even look at Jack.

* * *

An uneasy tension hovered over the room; Reed and Vida had not said much since Jack's unsuccessful rebellion. After Reed had signalled Connor, it took another ten minutes before the man himself boarded the _Abigail_.

Connor was a middle-aged man of average built, with a dark beard speckled with grey. He smiled softly as he entered the main gathering area, his amber coloured eyes roaming the room, "This is a gorgeous vessel."

Another man stepped behind Connor. He was tall and lanky; his balding head contrasted with his thick beard—his name was Ben.

A homely ginger haired woman paced beside Ben—her name was Briannah. Her dark green eyes scanned the room. There was a heavy scowl on her face and her lips were pursed tightly in disgust.

Connor frowned seeing Jack, sitting on the bench adjacent to Chris with his head turned away to the stairs. Connor looked at Reed for an explanation, "What happened?"

Reed scoffed, "Jackass here thought he'd take the _Abigail_ from us. Thought he'd sail off into the sunset with his newfound whore."

Jack finally looked over at Connor and Reed with an unintentionally look of embarrassment.

Connor frowned, "After everything we did for you? I'm greatly disappointed. We're definitely gonna have a little one-on-one later." He nodded to himself and peered around the room again, taking in all the troubled faces. "Which one is Travis?"

"That's him," Reed pointed to the bench on the far right, "He's the one who started the boat."

"And Alicia?"

"Jack's whore is sitting right there." Reed pointed straight at Alicia, his dark eyes narrowing.

Connor assessed the young woman with a faint smile; he did think she was pretty. He craned his head over in the direction of Ophelia, "Is this Nina?"

"No, I got Nina downstairs in one of the bedrooms," Reed scowled, "We don't need her anymore. You see what the smutbag did to me?" He circled a finger around his face, hoping his brother understood.

Connor raised his eyebrows as his attention was drawn to his younger brothers face; he noticed the long scratch marks and busted lip. He had assumed Jack had been responsible. He ticked his tongue, judging the room one final time. "Travis and Alicia will come with me for now. I'll collect Nina when I return."

"Only if I get to tear her apart later," Reed spat in revulsion.

"Now, Reed," Connor chided his younger brother in an almost too calm of a voice. He forced himself to lightly chuckle, "Let's get to it. We don't have all day." He snapped his fingers and pointed at Travis signalling Ben to collect him.

Alicia straightened her back and let the crowbar slide out from her sleeve and onto the bench. She pushed it gently so it would nudge her mother as she kept her eyes pasted onto Connor.

Madison felt something poke against her thigh; she peered down to see a crowbar being placed between her and her daughter. She realised what was happening and she shifted her weight to sit on top of the iron bar to conceal it from anyone else seeing it.

"What about my family?" Travis asked as Ben pulled him up from the bench.

"We only need the three of you." Connor answered.

Travis struggled against Ben, feeling himself be brought to his knees, "Whoa, whoa, hey! What are you gonna do?"

"Dad!" Chris yelled, feeling helpless.

"Travis!" Madison gasped under her breath.

"It's okay, Maddy. I'll bring her back." Travis said as Ben put a black bag over his head.

"Dad, Dad, please. Dad." Chris begged, leaning forward, wishing he could do something.

"Stay with Maddy, Chris." Travis grunted as Ben hoisted him to his feet.

Alicia stood up, stepping in front of Connor, her jade eyes widening with swelling tears. Based on her earlier conversation with Jack, she had a strong indication of what was coming and it drove her to beg, "Connor, please, back at your base, I'll contribute. I'll help—but please—you have to protect my family. Promise me you'll get them a boat—they're good people…"

Connor stared down at Alicia with a toughened expression for a moment before he began to nod gingerly, "We'll get them to shore." He forced a faint smile.

"Promise me." Alicia pleaded.

"I promise," Connor said with a stoic expression before he jerked his head in the direction of the loading dock, "Now come with me. I don't want to have to force you."

Alicia nodded, catching eyes with her mother one final time before leaving the vicinity.

Vida pulled up on Jack's upper arm so he would get to his feet, "Let's go. Come on, come on." She shoved him forward so he would head to the back of the boat.

* * *

Briannah and Ben stood on either side of the doorframe leading out to the stern. The ginger-headed woman held a semi-automatic weapon while Ben held a simple handgun. Both were ready to shoot and kill if anyone tried to make a move.

At the sound of the other boats engine revving, Madison let out a heavy sigh at the thought of Travis and Alicia having been kidnapped right before her eyes.

Reed leaned against the bar; gulping down the drink Vida had left behind. He pulled poured himself another drink; his other hand still held onto the gun. "You know, it's interesting how much a woman can affect a man's behaviour. Some, like Alicia, cause men like Jack to take more risks. While others, like Nina, make men, like me, want to treat them just like the dissolute creatures that they are…"

"Put us on the launch." Madison said suddenly, ignoring whatever Reed was babbling on about. She turned her head to face him, "We'll go to shore. You can take the _Abigail_."

Reed scoffed, getting to his feet, "The thing is, the launch goes with this yacht, doesn't it?"

"We'll swim to shore. Just let us."

Reed glared at Madison, "What am I? Stupid? You'll want your boat back—I don't like that ending."

Ben turned around, catching sight of a fast approaching dinghy. He put a finger up to his mouth, "Shh!"

"Excuse me?" Reed turned his attention onto Ben with a large scowl.

"Incoming." Ben pointed outwards, going out onto deck.

Briannah followed, holding the scope of her gun to her eye to get a better look.

"Did Connor come back?" Reed asked, growing agitated.

"Zodiac. Looks like two—" Her body jerked forward as a bullet ripped through her skull.

Another shot rang out followed by Ben getting his brains blown out.

Madison nearly fell out of her seat from shock.

"What the—" Reed murmured, scared shitless. As he strode forward, Daniel, who was already free from his bindings, purposefully tripped him.

Ofelia stood and pushed him against the sliding glass door as hard as she could, "Ahh! Somebody—Get him!"

Madison grabbed the crowbar and rammed the iron bar through Reed's back.

Reed jerked forward, groaning in pain. He peered down at the crowbar sticking through his abdomen in disbelief. He barely noticed Chris shoving him backwards toward the wall.

"Chris, don't!" Madison tried to grab onto the hood of Chris's jacket to pull him off Reed. After a moment she gave up and moved to the back of the boat when she caught sight of Nick.

Daniel, who had grabbed the semi-automatic off Briannah's body, went back to help Ophelia out of her binds. He noticed Chris, and picked up Reed's pistol off the ground, "Chris!"

Chris turned and took the gun from Salazar. He stepped back and aimed it at Reed's head.

Ophelia yelped as her binds were yanked off her wrist. She looked at her father for a moment, "I'm going to find Nina." She sprinted off below deck to find the young woman.

"Mom. Hey." Nick stated, making quick strides over to his mother.

Madison did not know whether to be angry or relieved to see her son, "Nick! Where were you!?"

"Hey! Drop it!" Luis threw up his semi-automatic, "Where's Victor?"

Daniel continued to hold up his gun, "Drop it!"

Nick shook his head, holding his hands up, starting to step in between the two bickering men, "Whoa, whoa. Hey, hey. He's okay. He's okay. He's a friend. He helped."

Daniel frowned, unsure if he should completely believe Nick.

Nick put an arm around his mother as he spoke, staring intently at Daniel, "Strand sent me to get Luis, okay? He's gonna help us get into Mexico."

A sceptical expression formed on Luis face, "I was getting Strand into Mexico."

"He left when they boarded, when they tried to take the _Abigail_." Madison said as Nick untied her.

"Victor escaped?" Luis frowned.

"They shot at his raft. He went down." Madison spoke as Nick pulled her into a hug.

Madison resisted and pushed her son away, "I have to go after Travis. I have to find Alicia."

Nick pulled his mother back into another embrace.

"We do not cross the boarder without him." Luis countered; he could honestly care less about what happened to Travis' and Alicia. His main priority at the moment was Strand.

Daniel lowered his gun, "We don't need Strand."

"Well, he didn't need you either, but here you are. Without Strand, we don't get into Mexico."

* * *

Ofelia cut the zip-tie off Nina's wrist, "Are you okay though? Reed didn't—" She cut herself short, unsure if she could vocalise what she wanted to ask. From the looks of it, though, Reed might have very well being lying about what he had done to Nina.

"I'm fine," Nina said rather darkly as she brought her wrist in front of her, staring down at the marks the binds had left. "What happened upstairs? I heard gunshots…"

"Nick came back," Ofelia sighed, "just in time too."

* * *

Madison directed the launch to the spot where she was certain she had spotted Victor in the water. She shook her head as she reached out to pull him into the boat. A part of her second guessed if she should be rescuing him—did they really need Strand?


	11. I Will

**_Sorry for the long delay in updating, I've been crazy busy with work and having to move...throw in a spell of writers block in there as well. I rewrote Nina's backstory but I also deleted Chapter 5: Savages (which was her backstory). I was never pleased with that chapter and it was overwhelming to try to rewrite it all again so I decided it would be best to just incorporate her backstory in future chapters. Anyway, wanted to give a sincere thank you to all those who reviewed last chapter ~ K-YERS, MIZZMOX, GIRLINSHIPWRECK, INFINITEANDMORTAL, MAD HATTER-J & SCALETHORNWOLF ~ your reviews keep me going!_**

* * *

There was a scent of garlic, onions, and roasted tomatoes intertwined with the pungent odour of fish in the galley where Alicia found herself seated at a table. Her jade eyes scanned the kitchen again; the interiors looked as if they had not been updated since the late 70s. In the corner of the dining hall was a modern flat-screen television mounted on the wall playing a looped video of someone skiing down a massive slope. The sound of a 1960s tune played over a small radio located somewhere in the galley. Alicia shifted her weight in her seat and observed her captor swaying to the music as he cooked.

Connor Stindle-Lesmeister stirred the tomato sauce he had been cooking since that morning. He murmured along with the current song playing— _I Will_ by Dean Martin, "…Don't wonder if you want to come back, just come running home to me and let me feel that thrill…Cause I'm the one who told you I would love you dear forever and I will…"

As the song broke into a short trumpet solo, he stuck a finger into the sauce and popped it into his mouth; he withdrew it with a satisfied smirk, "You want to know the secret to good gravy? Fish sauce."

Alicia turned her head the moment she met eyes with Connor. Her eyes scanned the room one more time as a means to distract herself. After examination, she fluttered her eyes closed and respired slowly to calm her nerves.

Connor began to plate the meal as he placed wahoo fillets down onto two plates and ladled the sauce over them. He then sprinkled some fresh parsley over the dish to add a bit of contrasting colour. He admired his meal he had prepared and hoped Alicia would appreciate it as much as he did.

He walked over to the table and placed the dish in front of Alicia, he then placed the other dish directly across from her. The table had already been informally set for two. Connor twisted around enough to grab the bottle of Cabernet Franc off the counter; he pulled the cork and filled Alicia's glass up before filling up his own. He then sat down across from her. He hummed to the vintage jazz piece playing— _Honeysuckle Rose_ by Fats Waller—as he placed the napkin into his lap. He then picked up his knife and fork so he could begin eating and flashed an awkward smile at Alicia, "Eat, please."

He cut off a piece of fish and placed it dexterously into his mouth, as he chewed he began to nod his head in gratification. He pointed his fork at the fillet on his plate, "Wahoo, or as the Hawaiians call it, Ono. It's a highly regarded fish by many connoisseurs."

He took another bite, and chewed on it slowly like a cow gnawing on cud as he watched Alicia. He washed down his food with a gulp of wine, still eyeing her, before he spoke, "Working on this beast of burden in the sun, wind, salt air... crews used to say my cooking was the only thing that got them through the day." He said as a means to coax her into eating.

Alicia kept a stoic expression, her eyes drifted down to her plate. She could feel her stomach churning, for it had been days since she had a decent meal, but a part of her wanted to reject the food simply for who had cooked it. The circumstances made her wary. She brought her eyes up once more before speaking, "Where's Travis? Can I see him?"

Connor cleared his throat, a faint frown played at his brows, "I made this meal especially for you, Alicia. Now eat, please."

"My family? They've been taken to land?"

Connor exhaled deeply before he spoke, "We think you could be happy here. We can't bring just anybody. We have to be selective. But, Jack, he just—he had this sense about you—"

Hearing Jack's name caused Alicia's eyes to flutter, "What happened to Jack? What'd you do with him?"

Connor swirled a piece of the wahoo in the pool of rustic sauce, "There's too much talking and not enough eating." He reprimanded before shoving the bite into his mouth.

Alicia wondered if he was holding off on answering her questions until she ate. Her stomach lurched again and she began to lick her lips, unable to resist any longer. She slowly picked up her knife and fork and cut a piece off the fillet. She delicately placed it into her mouth and her eyes closed as the bite seemed to melt in her mouth. As she chewed, her head bobbed with satisfaction. It actually was really good. She flicked her eyes open and proceeded to cut off another piece; a ravenous appetite taking over. After taking a few bites, she paused to reach for the wine to wash a bite down with.

Connor watched her every move and began to smile to himself. As he resumed eating, the music cut off suddenly and the lights flickered off. He dropped his fork onto his plate with a grimace; he closed his eyes and respired heavily as to control his temper. "Generator goes out at bad times."

He gathered his plate and scooted out of the booth. As he put his nearly empty plate on the counter, he turned back to his captive, "Stay put." He then left the galley and locked the door behind him.

Alicia watched him leave, realising this was her opportunity to attempt an escape (or at least figure out where she was). She took a few more bites of her lunch and then got to her feet. She walked over to the galley doors and attempted to open both of them but they refused to budge. She darted across the room to a small hallway and tried to open each door with no avail. Finally, she spotted a ladder style staircase that led to a large metal door. She climbed the ladder, clasped the latch and swung the heavy door open.

Stepping out onto deck, she looked around and ascended another ladder that took her to the bow of a large disassembled cargo ship located on a dry dock. She ran her fingers through her hair, contemplating how she would get out of the situation. As she continued to stare in awe at her surroundings a woman's voice came from behind her.

"You shouldn't be here."

It startled Alicia, making her jump in place. She wondered why the voice enticed a sense of familiarity. She pivoted around and blinked at the sight.

"A-Alex?" She stuttered, shocked to see the young woman they had rescued from the island. Guilt quickly pained her chest.

Alex Huang said nothing more as she gave Alicia a cold, hard stare. After an awkward minute she turned and began to walk away.

"Wait!" Alicia called out as she struggled to catch up. She followed Alex back through the metal door, down the stairs, and into the galley.

"I wouldn't do that again if I were you," Alex said over her shoulder when she heard Alicia's footsteps behind her. She pivoted around, "Connor doesn't let new people run free. You have to earn your keep."

Alicia blinked, brushing the windblown hair away from her face, still flabbergasted to see Alex again, "I don't understand—how? How'd you get here?"

"Does it matter?" Alex snapped, fighting tears, "I'm here no thanks to you."

Alicia's voice broke as she mustered a sincere apology, "I am so, so sorry—"

"So sorry that you left me and Jake out there—alone—to die? To not even give us a chance?"

"That wasn't… that wasn't me." Alicia mumbled. It was not hard to understand why Alex was blaming her for everything.

Alex frowned at Alicia's response, "Gotta keep your hands clean, right? Ever heard of being guilty by association?"

"I stood up for you!" Alicia retorted, "I tried everything I could but Victor…" Her voice trailed off as the culpability over the entire situation came crashing down on her once again. She opened her mouth to rebuttal but swallowed her words, deciding to switch the subject entirely, "Can you tell me why I'm here?"

"Same reason I'm here," Alex answered bitterly, "you've got something to offer."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Alex glared intently at Alicia before she answered, "It means you get to live."

Alicia found herself dumbfounded unsure she wanted to know the implications behind that statement. What did that mean for the fate of her family? She questioned herself before her jade eyes focused on the young Asian woman, "Where is Travis? Is he still alive? I need to see him."

She stopped speaking for a moment to study Alex's face. "Can you take me to him?"

"That's a lot to ask from me considering I'd rather see you rot. "

"That's a little harsh." Alicia grumbled, not liking this volatile attitude. "Can you help me or not?"

"Why should I?"

"Because," Alicia started, not wanting to get in the same discussion about leaving her and Jake behind in the raft, 'because you're helping me now, aren't you? "

Alex pursed her lips with detest, not wanting to admit Alicia had been somewhat correct in her assumption. She took a step back toward the gangway.

"If you want to do what's good for you," Alex spoke with a hostile tone as she left the room, "stay here."

* * *

On board the _Abigail_ , in Daniel Salazar's bedroom, Reed Stindle-Lesmeister sat strapped to a chair. His wrist had been bounded to the arms of the seat. His breath was quick and shallow, sweat beaded his entire face. His dark eyes tried hard not to look down at the crowbar impaled through his abdomen. He moved his eyes over to Nina and licked his lips, "How you feeling smutbag? Body pretty bruised after that beating I gave you earlier?"

"Don't answer that," Salazar quickly stated, taking a cluster of orangey red coloured soaked bandages from Nina, "Why don't you start soaking the others?"

Nina, who was kneeling in front of the bed, continued her task of soaking bandages in a watery paste she had made using cayenne pepper powder and vodka. She used vodka instead of water because she knew it would sting as it came in contact with Reed's wound. In actuality the vodka would clean the wound and the cayenne pepper would coagulate the blood.

Reed grimaced, struggling against his binds, trying hard not to whinge as Salazar pressed the bandages around the entry site, "Don't touch me! I'll clean up when I get home."

"Who says you're going home?" Salazar spoke with an indifferent tone.

Reed let out a small pant; it was obvious he was trying hard to keep his composure.

Nina was unable to avoid meeting eyes with Reed; she felt a strange sensation rip through her. She quickly lowered her eyes, trying hard to concentrate on soaking the bandages. Her right cheek and inner right eye socket was bruised along with a busted bottom lip.

An amused grin curved his lips as he watched Nina for a few moments. He finally averted his gaze over to Chris and let out a nervous chuckle, honing in on his new target, "Your girl sure knows how to take care of a man's needs."

"Shut up," Chris glowered, his eyes full of rage.

Reed held onto a sinister smirk, "Why don't you make me? Better yet, why don't you get your girlfriend here to do it..."

"You don't need to talk to the boy," Salazar reprimanded, taking some more of the cayenne soaked bandages from Nina.

"You worried about what's going to happen to your dad?" Reed asked, ignoring Salazar, trying to distract himself from the pain, "I guess it all depends if you like your dad. Do you like your dad? He a good guy?"

"Wait outside, Chris," Salazar commanded, "Nina, go with him."

"I'm fine," Chris answered darkly through clenched teeth.

Nina shook her head, "I'm staying right here."

"Cause my dad, he was an asshole." Reed continued, intentionally provoking Chris, "You ever see what happens when you clip a man's Achilles?" He paused, fixing his stare onto Chris.

"Whew," Reed breathed slowly, "the whole thing just sucks right back up into the knee. Makes a sound like a firecracker when it lets go. That's what happened to my old man…" Reed looked over at Salazar, "…last time he laid his hands on me."

Salazar wadded the bloody bandages in his hands, "You must be proud."

"Me? No. My brother did that one. Elder looking out for the younger. See, that's what you need to understand." Reed let out a heavy and breathy laugh, "When I don't come back with this boat as planned, Connor _will_ come looking for me. And when he sees what you've done—oh! He might be a little bent. He has a dozen men, five boats, three—"

Salazar pressed the bandages against Reed. The boy struggled against his binds, wincing loudly through clenched teeth.

Nina felt an ominous smirk playing at her lips; she almost enjoyed watching him suffer.

"Sorry," Salazar said flatly.

"Oh, you will be!" Reed started to laugh again to ease his agony.

Salazar acted as nonchalant as possible as he began to gather the bandages off the floor.

Nina gradually got to her feet and poured the liquid remaining in the small bowl over Reed's wound. Before he had time to react, she turned the vodka bottle upside down to douse Reed's sweater in the alcohol.

Reed let out a gasp.

Salazar stopped collecting the bandages and peered up at Nina with a look of surprise.

"What?" Nina shrugged with a straight face.

"You bitch!" Reed finally managed to find his words, "You think you had it bad earlier? Oh, you just wait…"

"Do you ever shut up?" Salazar asked in a monotonous voice.

Reed tried his best to stifle a cough due to the amount of pain created with movement. The vodka soaked sweater clung to his body, the liquid seeping into the entry wound. He glared up at Nina, "As soon as my brother cuts me loose—I'm going to finish what I started and then…" He moved his dark eyes to Salazar, "I'll move onto that daughter of yours, make you watch while I do it."

Salazar appeared unmoved by Reed's threat. He took the bowl from Nina and placed the bloody bandages in it before he spoke, "In my time, I've known men who inspire fear. Do you know what they have in common?"

Reed blinked, waiting for the answer.

"They never say how frightening they are." Salazar said darkly watching Reed's face start to flush. He slowly turned and started to walk out of the room, calling for the teenagers to follow. "Chris. Nina."

Chris hesitantly left the room. Nina glowered at Reed for longer than she needed to and then promptly exited.

Once outside the room, Chris trailed behind Salazar, "You just gonna let him talk to you like that?"

Salazar shrugged, "He's scared. That's what they do. That's what we all do."

"He doesn't seem scared." Chris continued.

Salazar turned to face Chris, "He is. And I got what information we needed. You saw that."

"You're just gonna leave him there?" Chris asked.

"Where is he gonna go?"

"I can stay," Chris insisted with a look of determination.

Salazar looked past Chris for a moment to watch Nina. He noticed the girl was pacing back and forth outside the bedroom door. He slowly nodded his head, adverting his attention back onto the teenage boy, "Stand outside the door and watch him, but do not engage. Same goes for Nina. Especially Nina."

"I understand. I'll watch her."

"No wandering off."

"Okay." Chris responded, feeling important. He pivoted and went back to stand outside the bedroom with Nina.

Ofelia Salazar rounded the corner, coming down from the stairs,

"Perdón ?" Her eyes immediately fell to the bowl holding the wad of deep red coloured bandages. She felt a wave of nausea come over her at the thought of what her father might have done.

Salazar kept his composure, "He required attention."

"What does that mean?"

"M _edical_ attention." Salazar defended himself in a passive manner.

"Okay," Ofelia let out a small sigh, "I had to ask."

Salazar stepped around his daughter, "I need to dispose of this. Excuse me."

"Wait," Ofelia reached for her father's wrist, "Let me clean these. They're gonna get infected." She turned her father's wrist to see where the binds had cut into his skin.

"I'll take care of it."

After a short moment of silence, Ofelia lowered her voice, "They should both be upstairs."

"They want to be useful, stay busy. So…" He stopped himself short, his eyes glazed over for a second.

Ofelia furrowed her brow, "Qué pasó?"

"...so his mind doesn't go places it shouldn't." Salazar finished faintly before walking away.

Ofelia frowned, picking up on the fact he had said 'his' instead of 'their'. She turned around to observe the two teenagers before she went off to go to her own room.

* * *

Daniel Salazar made his way up to the control room, quickly catching site of Madison attending to Victor, "How is he?"

"Got a ways to go." She looked up and over from Victor who was sleeping on a bench.

"It is as I suspected. Connor is their leader. Our prisoner is his brother. This provides leverage. So we're looking now for a cluster of five boats." He said as he walked over to the control panel. He pointed his fingers near the coastline on the radar screen, "Here. These five near the coast. Could be their fishing boats. They tend to travel together."

Madison contemplated this for a moment before she grabbed the wheel, "Okay, so that's where we go."

"Mm-hmm."

Madison scrunched up her face as she turned the boat north, realising it was a lot harder to steer the boat than she thought. The urge to rescue her daughter and Travis fuelled her.

Luis made his way into the room having felt the boat shift, "Qué es esto? Why are we heading north?" He approached Madison and Salazar, "Turn it back."

"I'm sorry, I can't do that." Madison said rather matter-of-factly; keeping her eyes ahead.

"Señora, I made arrangements. Do you understand? We're gonna miss our window to crossing—"

"We're not crossing anywhere without my family." Madison cut him off, continuing to look forward.

Luis scoffed and went over to sit on the bench adjacent to Victor, he lowered his voice as he spoke, "Are you gonna make me be the one to tell her?"

"There's no telling her anything." Victor said with a short smile.

Luis shook his head, glaring at the back of Madison's head, "Your people are gone. There's no getting them back."

"I need half a day." Madison turned around, narrowing her eyes at Strand, "I could have left you in the water. Should I have?"

Luis sat shaking his head, irritated.

"We can do both. We can go get your family and then we can continue south." Strand said loosing his breath as he spoke.

Luis snapped, speaking in Spanish, "Victor, he is waiting for us, we have to go.

Strand responded in Spanish, "He…of all people would understand my obligation."

"They charge by the head. You said _two_ people. I have money for _two_ people." Luis continued to rant in his native tongue.

"Relax." Strand waved his hand to silence his friend.

"Okay, do you have money for eight more? Because I don't."

"Everything is a negotiation." Strand looked up at Luis, "I'll get us across."

"You'll get us killed." Luis said darkly, "Hey, lady. You expect to sneak up on Connor and his people on a 40-meter yacht?"

"We don't have to sneak. They're expecting the boat."

"And what do you think is gonna happen when we get there?" Luis sounded extremely doubtful.

"We board, we use force if we have to, and we get our people back."

Luis listened to Madison and snorted, holding his hands up in disbelief, "Are you listening to this?"

"Anyone who's not up for it can stay behind with the kids."

Luis laughed at Madison and left the room shaking his head at the absurdity.

Salazar waited a moment before he whispered, "No one is gonna stay on the boat. If we're going to attack, we need everybody. Nick, Christopher—"

"No." Madison cut him off.

"You have to stop treating them like children."

"But they are."

"Not anymore." Salazar sighed, trying to reason with Madison.

"They stay behind." Madison did not want to argue on the subject anymore.

Victor Strand started to sit up with a groan.

"Thank you." Madison turned to look over her shoulder at the former captain.

"Don't thank me. You bought yourself half a day. Consider us even."

* * *

On board the _MV Aeger,_ Alicia stood in the wheelhouse with her arms crossed over her chest, tapping her foot out of nervousness. She chewed on her bottom lip, watching Connor at the control panel.

Connor pointed at the radar screen as he spoke, "The smaller the boat, the smaller the signature. We don't bother with those."

"Why not?" Alicia asked her captor curiously.

"We want these midsized vessels." Connor tapped his finger on the screen, "Long range, lots of supplies."

He turned to fully face her for a moment before stepping over to a small built in desk, "Seeing as Jack is no longer qualified, your job will be to track them down."

With his back turned toward her, Alicia shifted her eyes around the room and noticed a set of keys hanging on the wall next to the built in desk.

Connor pivoted with a clipboard in hand, "Assign each one a number. Log the time, speed, and position here." He tapped the clipboard with his finger.

Alicia sighed, brightening her jade eyes, "And then?"

"I give the green light and then you make contact."

She shook her head, saying rather unsurely, "I'll do something else."

"Everyone pulls their weight, Alicia." Connor gave her a stern expression.

She shrugged, not interested in the proposed task, "I wouldn't know what to say."

"You reeled Jack in."

"I wasn't trying to reel him in. I just wanted someone to talk to."

"Mm," Connor nodded his head and gave a short closed mouth smile. He went back over to the radar screen, and gestured his head so she would come over to the control panel.

She bit the inside of her lip and tapped her toe once more before she pushed herself forward to stand next to him. She studied the screen for a moment and looked over at him, "How do you choose?"

He turned his amber coloured eyes back onto the screen, "This is the world now, Alicia." He moved his finger between two blinking boats on the monitor, "This one lives, that one dies."

Alicia kept her eyes on him, feeling completely apprehensive about the whole situation.

Connor looked up and over at his prisoner, "You got to pick one."


	12. Wicked Ones

**_I wanted to give a HUGE thank you to some lovely friends who have helped me greatly with this chapter ~ K-YERS, MAD HATTER-J, & SCALETHORNWOLF ~ Anyway, hope everyone else enjoys and as always comments, questions, and concerns are welcome :-) _**

* * *

Travis fluttered his eyes open for a moment before he shut them finding it very difficult to keep them open. He let out a soft groan, forcing his eyes open to get his bearings. His sleep-induced confusion began to recede as he sat up. He quickly came to the conclusion he was locked in a cell of a brig. He then noticed Jack sitting on a makeshift bed with his back pressed against the wall and his hands behind his head.

"You're awake."

"How long was I out for?" Travis mumbled, still feeling groggy. He widened his eyes in an attempt to wake up, trying to get to his feet.

"A while. They drugged you up pretty good."

"Drugged?" Travis's brow drew together, wondering what kind of people Connor and his crew were. Travis gulped, piqued by the idea he had been drugged. Once he thought about it, everything had been a blur since he had been taken from the _Abigail_. He barely remembered getting onto the charter boat Connor used to take him away from the yacht.

"You'll be fine." Jack sighed, putting his hands down in his lap as he rolled his eyes around the room. He hated being stuck in this situation but he knew he had no one to blame but himself. The whole time he had been sitting there he contemplated what his punishment was going to be.

Travis stumbled to his feet, looking around the cell once more, "Where are we?"

"Welcome to the _MV Aeger_ ," Jack said rather dully.

"What is that? Some kind of ship?"

Jack snorted under his breath, finding Travis' question to be somewhat silly. He also thought the man to be rather oblivious. "Yeah, it's a ship, or what's left of one."

Travis considered Jack's words for a moment, "So we're not actually moving? The ship is stationary?"

"Yeah, it's on a dry dock…" Jack cleared his throat, crossing his arms across his chest, "What's with all the questions? It's not like we're getting out of here anytime soon."

Travis frowned, "Look, man, excuse me for wanting to know where I am."

Jack's features softened as he sighed, "I'm sorry. I just…" He trailed off, unable to finish his statement.

Travis rubbed his eyes when it suddenly dawned on him that he had not seen his stepdaughter in the room. "Where's Alicia?"

"I don't know," Jack shrugged, "Connor probably put her to work."

"What?" Travis recalled Connor wanting him, Alicia, and Nina. He quickly tried to process what the man's motives might be,

"What does he want with us?"

"Connor only allows people who can contribute to the cause…" Jack began, cutting himself off as he heard footsteps above. His eyes followed the sound realising someone was heading into the brig. He forced himself to swallow, wondering whom it could be.

The door creaked open and someone stepped into the brig. Travis did a double take and went over to the door to the cell, peering through the chain links at whom he saw at the end of the small gangway. Seeing this person made Travis realise how Connor and his crew had found the _Abigail_ and how they knew everyone's name.

Alex Huang stood there glaring intently. She could feel the anger building up inside of her now that she was facing the man who was responsible for putting her and Jake into the raft. She took a step forward, "How's it feel? How's it feel to be trapped with nowhere to go?"

Travis forced himself to swallow at her words; the guilt he felt never felt worse than it did now. He was unsure if he should or could answer her. Instead, he watched her take a few steps toward the cage, a consistent glower etched on her face.

"Because that's how I felt." Alex spat, slowing strolling to the jail cell, dragging her fingers along the wall, "That's how it felt to be out there floating and all I could do was watch him suffer."

Travis averted his eyes to the floor, finding it difficult to look at Alex. He commiserated with her greatly and began to feel entirely responsible.

She slowed her pace to a crawl, "He was so thirsty, but I ran out of water to give him. Surrounded by it but—and all he could do was moan." She cleared the space between her and the cell, "He looked up at me and made me get real close, I could barely hear him. And he whispered, 'Don't let me drown'. I didn't have anything to stop him turning. And he knew that, too. So I put my hands around his throat and I squeezed. And then I pushed him out of the raft."

She pouted her lips, tears brimmed her eyes at the memory.

Travis slowly brought his eyes up to meet hers, his fingers gripping the chain links, "You did what you had to."

"I did what you _made_ me do!"

Travis leant back at her outburst, forcing a sharp breath. He could feel her resentment filling the room.

Jack sat on the bed, his eyes concentrated on the floor as he listened to Alex. He had been there when Connor had rescued her from an impending watery grave. It still disgusted him even though deep down he knew he was guilty of crimes worse than what Alicia's family had done to Alex.

After a moment of obdurate silence, Travis found his voice; he spoke as sincerely as he could, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for all of this."

"You sure weren't sorry when you put me back in that raft!"

"I—" Travis started, looking down again, "we couldn't risk bringing the boy. He was gonna turn."

"I saw your face. You knew. You knew what would happen. You knew the right thing to do and you chose. You chose the other." She paused, watching his reaction before she continued, "When Connor found me just this side of death, the first thing he said to me was, 'what do you have to offer?'. I offered him your _Abigail_. But I asked for _you_."

Travis turned his head, closing his eyes, exhaling slowly. Guilt was starting to have a physical effect on him. He knew why Alex had asked for him—she wanted to punish him and she had good reason to. "I can't tell you what you want to hear…but what you did to that boy, I did the same. To my son's mother…"

"Is that supposed to make me feel sorry for you, so I forgive you?"

Travis craned his head to look at Alex again, "No, it's not. You will never forgive me. I get that. I do. All I can say is I'm sorry. I'm no better than the man that cut the rope. _I_ cut that rope."

Alex looked past Travis and caught eyes with Jack. She looked away the moment they met eyes. Travis' words struck a chord; it felt to the closest thing she needed to hear to dampen the pain. She would never fully forgive him and she certainly would never forget. Nonetheless, his apology would do for now. She turned and started to walk away when she heard Travis call out.

"Wait."

She paused in her tracks, failing to face him. She waited for him to talk.

"What happens to you?"

She looked over her shoulder, "Connor said he could use me. People don't use me." She then left the room.

Travis closed his eyes again and shook the chain links out of frustration. He pushed himself away from the door and went to sit down on the floor to await what came next.

* * *

Back on the _Abigail_ , Madison continued to steer the boat north; her eyes glued to the horizon. All her concentration was lost when she heard Strand let out a small groan.

Strand sat with a blanket draped over his shoulders and a steaming cup of tea in his hands. He groaned again, his whole body shivering. He had never felt so cold before in his life.

"Don't fight it. Shivering is your body's way of warming up." Madison stated, trying to keep the boat from veering.

"Fantastic tidbit." Strand chuckled, "Please, keep 'em coming."

"You'll recover faster…and I need you to steer."

Strand sighed, putting the mug on an end table and let the blanket fall onto the bench. He slowly got to his feet, "You're white-knuckling my wheel. You sure you want to give it up?" He sighed again and began to make his way toward the control panel and over to Madison.

"One more thing…" Madison pursed her lips tightly, keeping her eyes forward.

"Breath bated."

"Don't send Nick on any more errands." She turned her face toward him with a scowl.

"Pardon?"

"You let him go get your man." She stepped back from the wheel, keeping one hand on it.

Strand rolled his eyes with a small sigh, placing his hand on the wheel. As he caught his breath, he spoke, "Your son offered his assistance."

"Alone? In the dark?" Madison retorted, watching Strand take a seat.

"Without Luis, none of us gets into Baja. And that's what you said you wanted, right?"

"He could have died."

"He knows how to move through this world." Strand looked at Madison with a serious expression.

Madison rolled her eyes, turning her head to look out the window, "Yeah, just because he does, doesn't mean he should."

Strand considered her words, staring out the window to focus on steering the boat, "I saw your son's potential within five minutes of meeting him. And he was in withdrawal. You've hovered over him for 19 years and you still don't know what he's capable of."

Madison raised her voice, glaring, " _You_ don't know what he's capable of when he's—" She cut herself off, closing her eyes with a sharp exhale, "He has that look again…"

Strand looked at Madison for a moment, "Madison."

She snapped her head in his direction, "Do not come between me and my son."

* * *

On the _MV Aeger_ , Alicia watched the radar screen with interest, turning her head when she heard Connor come back into the room. She noticed Alex in tow.

"Ah, I believe you two are familiar with one another?" Connor gestured back at Alex, giving Alicia a short smile. He shifted his eyes between the both of them, sensing an obvious tension between the two.

"Alex is going to join us," He continued, going over to stand next to Alicia at the control panel, "I'll be killing two birds with one stone by training both of you today. It's not that hard once you get the hang of it."

Connor glanced back at Alex, "Now don't be shy. Come over here."

Alex kept her eyes glued onto Alicia as she stepped up to the control panel.

Alicia went back to watching the screen. She inhaled softly, "I, uh, I think I found one."

"Did you?" Connor turned his attention onto Alicia, watching her point at the screen at a boat. He squinted his eyes at the monitor. After a moment he began to nod his head, "Good one. Isolated, midsized. Call that one MY44. Note it as a possible acquisition."

Alicia typed on the keyboard, labelling the boat blinking on the screen.

Connor handed Alex the clipboard, "I want you to take notes, it'll be your turn to pick a boat next."

Alex glanced down, rolling her eyes with a shake of her head.

Connor nodded to himself before he looked at the radar again, his eyes started to narrow as he studied the screen. It was apparent to the two girls that something was bothering him. He took the clipboard back from Alex, rummaging through Jack's notes. He frowned, "Hm."

"What?" Alicia gulped, not liking the look on his face, "What is it?"

"No, nothing," He forced a smile, "Nothing to worry about."

"What's MY44?" Alicia narrowed her eyes, beginning to feel a deep pit in her stomach.

"Like I said, nothing to worry about. Alex, why don't you pick a boat…" Connor started to hand the clipboard back to Alex.

"Give me that!" Alicia grabbed the clipboard, taking a step backwards so she could get a good look at it.

"Alicia, give that back." Connor reached out for it but Alicia took another step backwards.

She blinked down at the page, her eyes flickering back up, "MY44 is the _Abigail_? How is that possible?"

"Calm down, Alicia." Connor chided gently, taking a step forward to take the clipboard from her, "There must be a mistake—"

"How are they here already?" Alicia's voice started to grow with panic, "They're—if they dropped them down the coast, that's not enough time for them—"

"Now, Alicia, calm down."

"I'm not going to calm down!" Alicia shouted, "They're not supposed to be back for two hours. Where is my family?!"

Alicia lunged forward, dropping the clipboard. She pushed Connor backwards, growling, "Tell me!"

"Alicia, stop it!" Connor attempted to grab her wrist, "Calm down!"

Alicia slapped him across the face while screaming, "Tell me!"

Connor took a few steps back out of shock. An instant scowl came over his face as he impulsively slapped her back, "That's enough Alicia!"

She let out a soft cry, a hand immediately went up to her flushing cheek. She could not even look at Connor, she felt tears beginning to form. She slowly turned to face him, "What happens on the other boats? The other people, do you—" She cut herself short for a second, unsure she could voice what plagued her mind, "Are they gone?"

Alex had focused her glare out the window, trying to ignore the confrontation. She knew what Connor and his people did on the other boats but to witness someone first hand learning about their people's fate aggrieved her.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean—this is all a big mistake," Connor spoke calmly, trying to sooth his temper, "I mislabelled the boat, that's all this is. I promised you I would take your family to land and that's what is going to happen." He lied fluently, "You've got to trust me."

Alicia caught her breath, forcing herself to swallow a lump in the back of her throat. She closed her eyes, shaking her head, trying to believe Connor. "Ok—Okay—Okay. I trust you."

* * *

Back on the _Abigail_ , Madison Clark made her way down the stairs into the main gathering area where she spotted her son sitting at the table assembling a handgun.

"Don't pull that shit again."

Nick crinkled his brow, shrugging, "Strand said it couldn't wait."

Madison made her way to stand next to Nick, "Then Strand should have gone. Nick, what were you thinking?"

As Nick loaded bullets into the magazine, he shook his head, "I…I don't mind it out there. Honestly."

Madison started to lean down, "We have enough problems. Please don't add to them."

"Okay."

"Don't worry me like that, Nick."

"I'm sorry." Nick stated rather nonchalantly before he turned to look up at his mother.

"Never again, promise."

Nick stared straight through his mother before he went back to assembling the gun. He slid the cartridge into the magazine of the gun and admired what he had just done.

"You're getting comfortable with that." Madison frowned.

"No, I'm not." He gingerly placed the gun down on the table.

* * *

Chris Manawa stood outside the bedroom, his back pressed against the partially opened door. He listened intently into the bedroom; Reed's heavy breathing was starting to annoy him. He was hoping the panting indicated Reed was suffering.

Nina leant against the wall opposite of Chris. The two had not said anything to each other since Daniel had let them be. Nina's mind was racing with various thoughts; she fought the urge to go into the bedroom and punch Reed in the face. In her mind it was the least he deserved.

Reed went into a coughing fit; he tried to stifle his coughs because of the pain it caused him. His entire body continued to grow cold, despite the vast amount of perspiration on his face and neck. If he did not know any better, he feared he was going into some kind of septic shock. To distract himself, he looked up, deciding he would talk to Chris, rile him up because he viewed the teenager as weak, "How you doing out there, short stack?"

Chris leant further back into the door as he started to smirk, "Better than you, it hurt?"

"Nah, it's just a scratch." Reed grunted, shifting his weight in the chair.

Nina frowned, unable to resist talking to Reed any longer after hearing his claim that he was not in pain. She moved and pushed the door open, "It doesn't hurt? Maybe I need to wedge the crowbar in further." She stopped herself from entering the room.

"Well, well, well," Reed forced a smile, "If it isn't the little smutbag."

Nina narrowed her eyes, "What the hell is a smutbag anyway?"

"It's a word I made up to stand for dirty whore...which clearly you are—" Reed choked on his words as he coughed. He bit his lip as a wave of pain swept through him.

Nina sneered under her breath, looking him up and down, "And you're a fat misogynistic pig."

Reed laughed, finding Nina's insult amusing.

As this exchange was going on, Chris had turned to stare into the room. He and Nina stood nearly shoulder-to-shoulder in the doorframe.

Reed looked over at Chris and then back at Nina, "So you, uh, tell your boyfriend about what we did? I'm sure he'd be pretty jealous if you did…"

Nina glared, narrowing her almond shaped eyes, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Could have fooled me, but come on, you don't have to lie to me…" Reed jerked his head slightly as he spoke.

Nina rolled her eyes, shaking her head, realising her protest was futile.

Reed watched Nina for a moment before he turned his attention onto Chris, "Girlfriend or not, you know you want it. I see the way you look at her. I mean, lucky for me, I've already had a little taste…" He said with a haughty tone before licking his lips, "She tell you what we did?"

Chris scowled but kept mum. He briefly side-glanced Nina as he wanted to know what exactly Reed had done to her. It still bothered him how Reed had groped Nina in front of everyone.

"Shut up!" Nina growled through clenched teeth.

"Hey now, don't get your panties all in a bunch," Reed crinkled his brow, "Deep down I know you enjoyed it as much as I did."

"Shut the hell up!" Nina brayed, beginning to step into the room but was blocked by Chris's arm.

"Nina, don't. He's not worth it."

"Look at you, short stack, keeping your girl in line. I like it." Reed smirked, feeling powerful, despite his condition, as Chris and Nina were clearly becoming piqued. "Your girl likes when someone takes control… I think it turns her on, cause boy did she—"

"Do I have to gag you?" Chris said, cutting Reed off.

"As long as Nina does the honour, I'm all for it."

Chris contracted his eyes, "You sick bastard."

"I'm not going to deny it," Reed sighed in satisfaction, "Doesn't matter what you two say or do, you know you're both screwed, right? As soon as Connor comes back, I'll personally kick both of your asses."

"I'd like to see you try seeing as you're strapped to a chair with a 15 inch crowbar through your gut." Nina taunted.

Reed coughed with a laugh. He took a moment to work through another coughing fit before he spoke up, "Connor has big plans for you and Alicia."

Nina puckered her brow, somewhat interested in finding out what these supposed plans were but decided not to ask.

"Nobody cares about your stupid plans." Chris spoke with irritation evident in his voice as he took another step forward.

"You know, short stack, you don't look anything like your sister…" Reed tapped his thumbs on the arms of the chair, he slowly turned his gaze over to Nina "And _you_ don't look like anybody on the boat."

Neither Chris nor Nina said anything.

"I'm beginning to think that we all have a lot in common. We're outsiders. Tell me, Chris, where is your real Mom?"

Chris glared intently, pursing his lips, desperately trying to control his temper.

Reed started to chuckle, prying his eyes over to Nina once more, "And where's your mommy and daddy? They die and become leadheads?"

"You shut your mouth!" Nina warned, trying to control herself from going into the room.

"Uh-huh. Let me tell you guys something, orphan to orphan, be prepared. Cause when the time comes, these people you call your family, they will put you down like you're a stray. Blood is all that matters now."

Chris looked daggers at Reed.

"These people aren't my family." Nina said, acting offended he would suggest otherwise.

"So you stand alone? I admire that…" Reed nodded, "but that makes you weak. And the weak always die first. I'm willing to bet your family died a horrible death—ripped to shreds—"

Nina began to clench her fist; it was becoming harder to control her temper.

Reed chortled, "You know, I'm also willing to bet you didn't even have a dad and your mom was a whore, just like you—what do they say? Like mother, like daughter?"

"Screw you!" Nina spat, "You don't know shit."

"Screw me? No, how about I screw you! Oh, wait…" Reed raised his eyebrows, "we were really getting hot and heavy there when I had you against that wall…"

Nina lurched forward, and smacked Reed hard across the face, "I told you to shut up!"

She felt her heart pounding, a rush pulsing through her; it almost alarmed her how satisfying it felt to smack him.

Reed recovered with a short snarl, he licked the blood off his lip, and shifted his weight in the chair. "Really? Is that all you got?"

"What was that phrase you used? Oh, right…" She pursed her lips, leaning over in order to be eye-to-eye with Reed. She lowered her voice, speaking in a dark tone, "I'm just getting started."

Reed snorted under his breath before it turned into a laugh that faded into coughs. Blood was leaking from his nose and his busted lip was slowly oozing blood.

Nina slapped him, not saying anything, wanting him to stop laughing.

Reed cackled, "You hit like a God damn girl!"

As this exchange was happening, Nick had come downstairs with the intention of grabbing a much needed cigarette when he heard commotion coming from the small gangway. He frowned, noticing Chris standing in the doorframe, as he got closer he heard Nina and Reed talking to each other.

"Come on, now hit me like you mean it!" Reed voice carried into the hallway.

"Screw this," Nina curled her top lip and then pushed one hand against his left shoulder and with her right hand she grabbed the crowbar and began to twist the bar as she pushed it in.

Reed shut his eyes tightly and clenched down on his jaw as he bounced his knees. He started to let out a cry due to the vast amount of pain.

Chris remaining staring into the room with a menacing smirk on his face.

Nick pushed himself past Chris and pulled Nina back by her waist, "Nina, Nina stop!"

Nina instructively lost her grip on the crowbar as Nick attempted to pull her away. She growled, struggling against him, "Don't—let me—get off me!"

She continued to struggle for a moment until she managed to break free with another growl. She quickly shoved her way past Chris, unable to stay in the room any longer.

Nick watched Nina leave before he turned his dark eyes onto Chris. He frowned at his stepbrother as he shut the door behind him. "What the hell, man? Why were you just standing there?"

Chris seemed surprised by Nick's words, "What? He deserved it."

"That's not the poi—"

"You weren't there. You didn't see what he did to her. What he did in front of everyone."

Nick continued to frown, he had learned from Ofelia how Reed had felt Nina up in front of everyone, "Yeah, I know. I know. But—"

"None of this would have happened—I froze. I let them on the boat. This is my fault…"

"Look, man—"

"No, no, I pull the trigger, none of this would happen. I pull the trigger, my dad and Alicia are on the boat; we're off to Mexico already."

"What, you gonna shoot a pregnant woman? Come on, man. I wouldn't shoot a pregnant woman. This isn't on you."

"What if I freeze again? I want to make up for it."

Nick sighed, his features softening, "Okay, but just don't let all this get inside your head, alright?"

"Okay."

"Yeah? I'm going to check on Nina…"

"Okay." Chris exhaled slowly, stepping over to press his back against the wall.

Nick studied his stepbrother for a moment before he headed down the hallway toward the room his shared with the other teenagers.

* * *

Back on the _MV Aeger_ , Alicia leaned her elbows into the counter as she stared absentmindedly at the radar screen. She and Alex had been left in the wheelhouse to watch for potential ships while Connor attended to some other tasks. Alicia found her mind too preoccupied with thoughts of her family than to focus on the task at hand. She did not even notice Alex beginning to talk to her; she blinked a few times as her brain computed the noise into words.

"Hey! Did you hear me?" Alex repeated, "I said this one's down to five knots. You think they have mechanical problems?"

"Uh, what?" Alicia squeezed her eyes shut for a split second to regain focus, "Oh, yeah, sure. Seems possible."

Alex scoffed knowing Alicia was not paying attention in the slightest. She jotted down some notes on the clipboard, her dark almond shaped eyes going back to watching the radar.

"I have to find them," Alicia stated, her voice sounding faraway. There was a stoic expression written on her face.

"Find who?" Alex asked with a resentful tone, shifting her eyes toward Alicia with a furrowed brow.

"I have to find my family, Alex."

Alex rolled her eyes back to the radar screen and exhaled sharply as if Alicia worrying about her family was nothing but a giant nuisance. Without thinking, she asked, "And how are you going to do that?"

"I…I don't know," Alicia shrugged, deliberately blinking, "I'll—I'll get a boat and, and I'll head south—and I'll—"

"Good riddance." Alex snapped with a snigger.

Alicia ran her hands through her hair, "I have to find them. With or without your help…but without you will take longer..."

"Why would I help _you_?" Alex turned to glare at Alicia, "Your whole family left me for dead!"

"I get it, you hate me and my family... and I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry this happened to you—"

"At least _you_ don't have to watch your family suffer like I had to watch Jake suffer."

"What does that mean?" Alicia asked with a timid frown.

"It means … " Alex closed her eyes with an exhale, "it means your family's dead, Alicia."

"What?" Alicia queried, somewhat taken aback by Alex's words, "No, no, that's not true. We don't know that. Connor said—"

"Connor's a goddamn liar."

"No, you're the liar!" Alicia voice cracked, her eyes narrowed with dreadful thoughts, "No, I have to—I have to get out of here—I have to find them…"

She started to make her way toward the door looking affright and on the verge of a mental breakdown. Her path was blocked by Alex.

"Alicia wait! You can't leave. If you get caught—"

"I won't get caught," Alicia shook her head, not believing her family was dead, "I'm going to find them. They are still out there, I know it…" She trailed off before peering out at Alex with large pleading eyes, "Come with me. There has to be a way—somewhere we can hide, get away from Connor…I can't stay here, Alex, I can't…"

Alex looked back at Alicia with a growing sympathetic gaze. She started to nod her head. "There's five boats moored by the shoreline. We take one, we can go."

"But how—"

"That ship," Alex pointed at the radar screen, "The one with mechanical problems. That sort of thing might get Connor to drop everything. When he does recon, that'll be our chance. It'll be a small window, but it'll be enough."

"Are you—are you sure?" Alicia puckered her brow, feeling impending tears at the idea of her family being gone. Whatever their fate, she knew she needed to get as far away from the _MV Aeger_ as possible.

Alex nodded, stepping over to the counter to grab the walkie-talkie, "I'll make the call."

* * *

On board the _Abigail_ , Victor Strand peered through binoculars at the approaching shoreline.

Daniel Salazar stood beside him, straining his eyes out the window. He glanced over at the captain, "You surprise me. You have no skin in this."

"Neither do you," Strand retorted, side glancing Salazar.

"Well," Salazar averted his eyes back out the window, "if it were my daughter, I'd—"

"But it's not." Strand went back to looking through his binoculars, when he spotted a small cluster of boats near a dry dock, "Look! Look!"

He handed the eyeglasses over to Salazar with a short grin, "Time to knock on the front door."


	13. Here to Stay

_**Hey all my avid readers! A warning—this is my longest chapter yet! But I promise it is worth the read. For all my JackXAlicia shippers you might be squealing after reading this chapter. As always, shout out to my girls—Mizzmox, Scalethornwolf, Mad Hatter-J, and K-Yers, You guys are like my personal cheerleading squad—#squad goals! With that being said, hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Comments, reviews, and concerns are always welcomed.** _

* * *

Aboard the _MV Aeger_ , Alicia followed behind Alex in the direction of the brig with a solemn expression. To hear that Travis was still alive renewed her hope. She refused to believe that her family could have been murdered, despite Alex's earlier implications. She stepped into the brig after Alex, her eyes immediately going to the end of the bleak, dimly lit hallway where she could see two figures inside a holding cell.

"Travis." She rushed past Alex, meeting her stepfather at the cell door. Her eyes immediately roamed his face to check for any signs of harm.

"Alicia. You're okay." Travis's voice was filled with concern.

"Are you?" Alicia asked, her eyes drifting over to a brooding Jack. He was sitting with his knees drawn up and his arms loosely draped around them. His cheeks flushed under her gaze and he could not look her directly in the eye.

"I'm fine." Travis peered past Alicia to Alex who was watching a few feet away. His brow instinctively creased; seeing her there made him wary. The same guilt he had felt earlier resurfaced making his stomach churn.

Alicia looked back at her stepfather with a worried expression, knowing it would be difficult to voice what plagued her mind. She took in a shallow breath, "I don't know how else to tell you this but…I don't know if they made it to land. The Abigail…it's back too soon."

Travis continued to frown, his eyes flicked back to Alicia, "What do you mean?"

"They can't have dropped them off and made it back this soon. Alex told me what happens on the other boats and I just—what if they're gone?" Alicia's voice was brittle and her jade eyes glistened with forthcoming tears.

Travis moved his eyes to the floor; he felt his stomach drop again at the implications behind Alicia's statement. The mere thought of someone fatally hurting Chris, Madison, and the others troubled him. He gulped, shaking his head, convincing himself otherwise, "No, they got there."

Alicia exhaled a held breath before she spoke, "How can you be sure?"

"It's your mom. They'll be fine." Travis forced a tight lip smile.

Alicia almost simpered at the remark for she admired her stepdad's optimism. She casted a glance back over her shoulder at Alex before returning her gaze. "We're gonna try and get out of here tonight."

"With _her_?" Travis kept his voice low. He came to the conclusion that the two girls must have come to some kind of truce but he could not help but wonder if Alex had an ulterior motive.

Alicia nodded her head, reaching up to grip the chain links on the door, "She doesn't want to be here anymore than we do."

"How do you know we can trust her?" Travis whispered as he continued to contemplate what Alex's angle was in this situation. It seemed out of character for her to help considering the circumstances. Her animosity was still apparent on her face.

Unable to truthfully answer the question, Alicia ignored it. She needed their plan to work and the last thing she wanted to focus on was the possibility of a betrayal. "Alex and I are going to take one of the boats anchored on the shoreline. We're coming for you too, while Connor's doing recon. That's—"

"No, if you have a way out, take it." Travis decreed.

"Alicia shook her head in defiance, "No, I'll be back for you, I put us in this mess and I'm gonna get us out of it."

Travis frowned at hearing his stepdaughter blaming herself. He juddered his head 'no' as his gaze went over to Alex, "No, no, it wasn't just you…" He trailed off, not finishing his sentence.

Alicia followed Travis's stare, briefly turning to look over her shoulder at Alex, realising what her stepdad was acknowledging. It dawned on her that Alex had been the one who had told Connor about everyone aboard the _Abigail_. Why had she not thought about it before, she wondered.

Alex was biting down on her back molars watching the two with a vexing stare.

"Times up. We've gotta go." She said to Alicia with a grave tone, apparent she feared the consequences of being caught, "If Connor catches us down here…"

Alicia nodded in response, feeling Alex tugging her backwards. As she was leaving the brig she continued turning around to look back at Travis. Her mother would never forgive her if she left him behind. "I'll come back for you, I promise."

"If you can't come back for me, don't. If it comes down to it, you just go, okay? Just go." Travis shouted back at her, watching his stepdaughter leave the vicinity.

* * *

On board the _Abigail_ , as Alicia and Travis were plotting an escape, Strand and Madison stood in the wheelhouse observing the dry docks for any sign of life.

Strand watched Madison who was staring out through the binoculars, "See anyone?"

"Not a soul." She said disappointedly, exchanging a glance with him.

"Hey, asshole, what are you waiting for? A written invitation?" Connor's disembodied voice came through over the radio with a crackle. "Get your ass back here. Over."

Madison pulled the binoculars away from her eyes and craned her head to stare at the short wave radio. She listened keenly as the voice continued.

"Reed, you're pissing me off. Drop anchor, shut it down. Over."

Madison slowly pivoted her head to face Strand who nodded as if he was encouraging her to go over to the radio and engage. She slowly inched her way over to the radio and picked up the microphone. She held it against her lips, hesitating; finally she mustered to say, "You can have your brother when I get my family back."

"Madison, is that you?"

"Yes." She answered menacingly.

"What'd you do with him?" There was bitterness evident in Connor's voice.

"Nothing, _yet_."

"What about Ben and Red?" Connor asked.

A long pause passed before Madison spoke again, her eyes travelled to Strand as she replied, unsure if revealing this information would prevent Connor from agreeing to her terms, "You promised us safe passage, they didn't follow through on that."

"Let me talk to Reed." Connor demanded, "Let me talk to him now!"

Madison nearly sneered, "No."

Connor breath was heavy as he spoke into the mic, his voice softening, "Just let me talk to him, let me hear he's alright."

Madison took her time responding, not wanting to prolong the negotiation, "He's alive. You want him, trade. One hour. Your brother for my family."

"Okay, I'll play," Connor started off slowly, "One man with Reed. If he's unharmed, you get yours."

Madison shared an expression with Strand as she said her final piece, "You have one hour."

* * *

Meanwhile, as Madison and Connor's exchange was going on, Nick walked into the crew quarters bunkroom he shared with Nina, Chris, and Alicia. He furrowed his brow catching sight of an orange and white blur of an object Nina quickly slid into her jacket pocket. If he did not know any better, he would have sworn it was a pill bottle. He decided not to ask her about it, instead he asked, "Hey, you okay? You alright?"

Nina craned her head in Nick's direction upon hearing his voice, her tear filled eyes narrowed, "Do I look okay to you?" She paused for a second, shaking her head, "Don't answer that."

"Look, what happened—"

Nina cut him off, starting to pace, hearing Reed's voice in the back of her head. Even if what he said was not true in regards to her family it still affected her thought process. "I just wanted him to shut up, why wouldn't he shut up?"

"Because he's an asshole."

Nina stopped and looked hard at Nick, her voice becoming harsh, "Do you know what he did to me? _Do you know_?"

"I—" Nick stopped himself short and shook his head no. He had learned from Ofelia about what Reed had done to Nina up in the main gathering area but knew better than to bring that up. He was left to wonder about what other act of violence Reed had committed. Based on the marks on Nina's face he reckoned it had been somewhat ruthless.

"This is all my fault. Him coming here…" Nina said as if she had just experienced an epiphany, "It proves I'm being punished for what I did—for what we did…" She trailed off, her eyes lowered to the floor. Her mind was racing with intense memories of the mayhem she had experienced as Catrina Island fell apart.

"Nina," Nick started off slowly, being cautious with how he responded as to not upset her even further, "none of this is your fault."

"You don't understand. You can't understand." Nina pressed her palms against her forehead before running her fingers through her hair; her eyes welled with tears, "All of us just needed to get out of there. There was so many of them so—so we pushed him. We pushed him into the herd from the store—he kept begging us 'don't, please, don't' over and over but it was the only way—we had to. The screams as he was torn apart…oh, God…" Nina ranted, going livid.

"What?" Nick asked incredulously, taken aback by her sudden outburst, "You're not making any sense—"

"Nothing is making sense anymore!" Nina's voice trembled, "My whole life is turning to shambles, everything turning against me. I'm trapped in this hell, being punished for my sins. It's like this nightmare I can't wake up from but that's not possible—I don't sleep. I can't dream. If I don't dream, then all of this is real…"

Nick's eyes had widened as he continued to process Nina's self-dialogue. Her behaviour stirred up a memory from the Church, where he had once witnessed the frenzied behaviour of a meth head. He recalled the pill bottle had had seen her stash when he first entered the room, "Are you…taking something?"

Nina appeared frazzled; she looked up at him with a surprised expression, as if his question caught her completely off guard—like he had just walked in on her naked. "What? What are you talking about?"

"I saw you take something. What was it?"

Nina levelled her gaze, her face contouring into a pout, tears falling down her olive toned cheeks, "No you didn't."

"Yes, I did." Nick retorted, sounding very sure of himself.

"Just leave me alone!"

"I'm not going to just leave you alone—" Nick was cut off by the sound of a gun going off.

Nina jumped in place, all her thoughts dissipating. Nick promptly left the room to investigate. He met Ofelia in the gangway.

Chris stood outside the room Reed was being held hostage in. He appeared to be on the verge of tears, unable to pry his eyes away.

"Chris?" Ofelia asked calmly, beginning to approach cautiously, "Hey. What happened?"

Chris stumbled backwards, his voice breaking, "He was…he was gonna turn." He then brushed past them and headed in the direction of the crew quarters.

Ofelia and Nick shared worried expressions before they strode over to the bedroom. Ofelia gasped, having to lean against the doorframe, "Oh, my god!"

Nick pushed out his bottom lip and pulled his chin into his neck, disgusted by what he saw.

Reed sat partially reclined with his head facing the ceiling. A bullet had blown off the right side of his cheek and lower jaw. It was obvious it had been a close range shot.

Ofelia turned to see her father and Madison approaching, "Chris said he was gonna turn."

"Where's Chris?" Madison inquired with a sense of alarm in her voice.

"He just left," Ofelia pointed down the hallway before she stepped into the room, needing to sit down on the bed.

Madison headed to the crew quarters to find her stepson.

Nick went into Daniel's bedroom, and stood to the left of the door, not able to take his eyes off Reed's body.

Salazar remained just outside the door; he closed his eyes and rubbed his hands back over his head exhaling deeply. It was at that moment he realised leaving Chris and Nina in charge of Reed had not been the smartest decision.

Luis approached and let out a cold laugh as he entered the room, he spoke in Spanish, "That's that." He looked over at Salazar, breaking into English, "We're going south. This is done."

Salazar stroked his chin, shaking his head, "Nothing is done."

"Yes, it is." Luis bickered.

* * *

Chris entered the crew quarters in a stupor. He did not even notice Nina sitting on the floor leaning against her bunk with flushing cheeks. He sat down on the bottom bunk that belonged to Nick. His stare fixated on the gun in his hands. He could not differentiate whether he felt guilt or a sense of relief for shooting Reed. He barely registered Nina's voice.

"Chris?" She asked with confusion, wiping away underneath her eyes with the back of her hands to clear away any falling tears. Her eyes drifted to the pistol in his hands and then back to his face. It occurred to her that he must have been responsible for the gunshot that had interrupted her and Nick's argument. She bit down on her bottom lip, watching him, starting to compute what might have happened.

Chris kept his head inclined but his eyes shifted over to meet Nina's. In that brief moment they seemed to exchange an unspoken understanding. He watched her features soften as her lips parted in surprise; she averted her tear filled eyes to the floor as an extremely faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

Madison appeared in the doorframe, "Chris?"

Chris brought his eyes back to the gun with a small scowl as if his stepmom's presence irritated him. He answered her, sounding cross, "He's dead."

Madison pursed her lips as she approached him. She carefully sat down beside him on the bed, her eyes ogling the pistol in his hands. She forced herself to swallow a lump in the back of her throat, not wanting to think of her stepson as a murderer. She looked up and over to Nina, wondering how the girl was holding up during all this. From the looks of it, not so well, Madison thought. She cleared her throat, telling herself she needed to focus on Chris at the moment, "Nina, do you mind giving us a minute?"

Nina blinked back tears as her brain processed what Madison had asked. She snivelled, throwing her a scowl as she got to her feet, "You don't get to tell me what to do. Leave me alone."

Madison frowned in confusion at the girl's antagonistic stare; Nina's avowal was slightly puzzling. She waited for Nina to leave the room before returning her gaze to her stepson, realising something needed to be said, "Chris, I—"

"He was sick." Chris interrupted, speaking dismally.

Madison nodded slightly, "How'd you know?"

"He was gonna turn." Chris said offhandedly.

"No, we didn't know that." Madison reprimanded.

Chris sniffled, keeping his eyes on the pistol as he fought back onset tears. "I knew that." He began sounding dejected but by the end there was no hiding his bitterness, "That's what happens now. That's what happens."

"Whose gun?" Madison questioned, lowering her dark green eyes to the pistol once more. She reached out and took the gun from Chris's grip.

"Reed's," he replied, his voice somewhat adenoidal. He sniffed, clearing his nose of any phlegm, "It was on deck after we took him down and I, um—"

He was cut off, as Luis and Salazar's argument grew louder. Luis countered in a stentorian tone, "The kid just blew a hole through your trade!"

"It's okay." Madison said immediately upon seeing Chris's mouth agape. He turned to look at her with glistening eyes.

"Did I just screw everything up? Were they gonna trade him for my dad?"

Madison sighed, "We'll figure it out, okay? Trust me."

She forced a short nervous closed-mouth grin to instil a sense of hope.

Chris continued to stare at Madison with large worried eyes, "What are we gonna do?"

"We're gonna get him back." She put an arm around him in an effort to comfort him.

Chris's brow drew together and he fought back impending tears as he pleaded his case, "You know I had to, right? You get that? I had to."

"It's okay, Chris. It's okay." She pulled him close, rubbing a hand up and down his back, unable to look at him as her mind wondered how they were going to get Travis and Alicia back.

"Thank you," Chris laid his head on her shoulder.

"It's over now." Her voice was flat and honeyed.

* * *

In Daniel's bedroom, as Madison consoled Chris, Nick was wiping blood splatter off the windowsill behind the chair Reed's body was propped up in. He grimaced, "Chris can't see this. Ugh."

Ofelia was on her hands and knees scrubbing the carpet with a towel. She let out a soft sigh as she looked up at Nick, "Think I'm actually starting to get used to this."

"Please don't." Nick stepped around the chair with a blood stained towel in his hands; he tossed it into a small trash bin near the bedside. Ofelia had this innocence about her that Nick did not want tainted.

"It's what we do now—spill blood, clean it up, spill it again." Ofelia said in discontent, sitting up on her knees, beginning to stare at Reed. It was obvious that viewing his body repulsed her and yet she oddly pitied him.

She kept her eyes on the boy's body as she continued to speak, her brow arching with curiosity, "Chris said he was gonna turn. He wasn't, was he?"

Nina watched from the doorway, unnoticed by Nick and Ofelia; her eyes fixated on Reed's body. Seeing him dead affected her enmity toward him; it felt relieving. She let out a scoff, making her presence known, "Who cares? He's dead now. Bastard deserved much, much worse."

Ofelia frowned, craning her head in the direction of the door. Something about what Nina said almost disturbed her. She questioned if Nina should even be there considering the circumstances.

Nick looked over and observed Nina. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her arms were crossed over her chest. She leant against the doorframe, and pushed out her bottom lip. Her brown eyes met with his for a moment, forcing him to swallow. He looked back at Reed and then returned his gaze to Nina. He stepped forward in front of Reed's body to block Nina's view, "You shouldn't have to see this. You wanna go upstairs, talk about it?"

Nina pulled her arms closer to her body, shrugging her shoulders as she shook her head, doing her best to look confused, "There's nothing to talk about. He's dead, it's done with."

Nick puckered his brow, giving her a knowing look, "That's not what I'm talking about."

Ofelia moved her eyes back and forth between the two, sensing a great tension between them she had never noticed before. She parted her lips, taking in a sharp breath. She blinked when she heard a low, raspy groan. She averted her eyes onto Reed, realising he was reanimating, "Oh, god!"

She gasped, getting to her feet, stumbling backwards. Nina blinked rapidly as she took a few steps out of the room until her back hit the wall. She then turned to leave the vicinity; her mind not able to handle seeing a reanimated Reed.

Nick pivoted at Ofelia gasp. He instinctively put an arm out to push her back, his other hand reaching into his pocket to grab a switchblade. He was stopped by Salazar, who had rounded the corner with a cluster of towels in his hands.

Salazar immediately dropped the towels, gently shoving Nick back, "No, no, no, no. Wait, wait, wait!"

Reed's reanimated corpse got to its feet, a hand outstretched, grabbing at the air. His body jerked forward, jaw masticating; eager to get a taste of living flesh.

Salazar lunged forward and threw Reed's corpse back. He gripped the crowbar, jamming it further into the boy's body as he pinned it against the wall. Salazar stepped back until he sat on the bed; he placed a hand under his chin, his mind racing, "Not yet. Not yet."

Ofelia and Nick were left stunned. Their eyes glued to Reed's body restrained against the wall, watching it thrash about.

* * *

Back on the _MV Aeger_ , in the brig, Travis and Jack sat on the floor on opposite sides of the jail cell. Each was sitting with their knees up and their arms draped loosely around their legs. There was a heavy tension in the room but Travis broke the silence, wanting to know more about Jack.

"What'd you do before all this?" Travis asked inquisitively.

Jack respired, not eager to talk, "I, um, I was a student at a community college…just trying to get by, you know?"

Travis nodded, understanding, "I was a high school English teacher… not like any of that matters now…" He trailed off with a faint smirk at the idea of how certain occupations seemed pointless now. He waited until a wave of silence swept over them before speaking again. "How'd you get mixed up in all of this? You seem like a good kid."

Jack sighed, turning his head, appearing ashamed, "Well, I'm not."

"See I don't believe that. Why'd you try to save us? Why take the risk?"

Jack tilted his head back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling, "Frankly, I saw my chance to escape, to get away from Reed, to get away from Connor; I am sick of luring people to their death. And I did it to try and save Alicia. Reed is becoming worse—what he did to that girl—he would have done the same to Alicia. I couldn't let that happen. But I screwed up—"

Travis contemplated Jack's words, believing the boy still had good intentions behind trying to save them from Reed.

Jack looked back at Travis, guilt showing on his face, ""I'm really sorry man but your family… they probably didn't make it."

Before Travis could react, the door to the brig opened with a loud screech. He turned his head and watched Connor and two men come down the small gangway. Connor approached the cell with a determined look.

"Travis, I've got good news. Your time here is done. Now stand up, hands behind your back."

Travis slowly got to his feet, feeling an uneasy sensation sweep through his body. He gulped at Connor's choice of words. "Where is my family?"

"You'll see them soon. Now, hands behind your back." Connor said as he took out a pair of keys and unlocked the cell. He opened the door and ushered in the two men. One of them seized Travis, twirling him around, beginning to zip-tie his wrist together.

Jack looked on, keeping himself plastered in place. He was confused as to what was happening. He wondered what Connor was playing at—was it all a sick mind game?

Travis was led out of the cell. He looked back at Jack and then returned his stare at Connor. "What happens to the boy?"

"He won't suffer if that's what you want to know. We'll make it quick and painless. Won't we, Jack?"

Travis blinked, shocked at the idea of Jack being executed. The way Connor was so calm about it was even more disturbing. Travis nearly tripped on his feet as the man dragging him out of the brig went faster than he could keep up.

Connor glared at Jack, and then looked at his other associate, "Go find Alicia. Bring her to me."

The man nodded and left the brig promptly. Connor waited until his cronies had left before he spoke again, "After everything I did for you, Jack. And this is how you repay me? As much as I admire your courage for trying to save Alicia's family, it's a pity I am going to have to kill you. Feels like all that effort saving _you_ was for nothing. But you know the rules, Jack, no deed goes unpunished."

Jack looked away, holding his head down. He knew his fate and there was nothing he could do about it. He had made his choice and now he had to pay the consequences. He cursed himself for not trying harder.

"I'd start making amends with the Man upstairs if I were you." Connor said as he closed the door and locked the cell. He smirked faintly, giving a false sympathetic stare at his prisoner before leaving the brig.

* * *

Back on the _Abigail_ , Daniel Salazar stood buttoning Reed's green and navy plaid shirt. Reed's reanimated corpse growled and snapped wildly underneath the hood over his head. Suddenly, Salazar heard a voice whispering in Spanish, "Take the gun, Daniel."

Salazar stepped back, confused. He heard the voice repeat itself. He quickly told himself it was impossible it was coming from Reed yet he wondered where the voice was coming from. He blinked, trying to clear his mind, continuing to convince himself it was sleep deprivation and the stress he had been under the past few hours that was making him hear things. He then heard footsteps behind him making him jump and as he turned he was met face to face with his daughter.

"It's time," Ofelia sighed, noticing a look of fright upon her father's face, "Papá, you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine." He responded shortly, "Let's go."

He stepped over to Reed; Ofelia helped him hoist Reed up to his feet to take him out of the room.

* * *

On the _MV Aeger_ , Alicia hid inside a cabinet, in the kitchen, underneath the sink. Her knees were drawn up to her chin, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. She held her breath, hearing the door creak open followed by heavy footsteps. She closed her eyes tightly, her heart pounding away making her chest ache. The deep and raspy voice called out her name; the man sounded annoyed.

"Alicia?" He said, stepping further into the room, "Where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are…I know you're in here."

His ears perked when he heard a noise coming from the far side of the kitchen. He started to inch closer to a pantry, a smirk playing at his lips. He reached out and yanked the door open, "Gottcha!"

Alicia gasped under her breath, her eyes instinctively snapping open. Her heart pounded faster, thinking the man would discover her now that he was nearby.

The man pouted as he found the pantry empty. He puckered his lips, beginning to open the bottom cabinets under the countertop.

Alicia could hear him getting closer, she held her breath again. Her mind raced with thoughts about what she would do when he found her.

Suddenly a door to the galley opened.

"Mark! We've got to go, they're here."

Mark stopped and turned around, "But what about the girl?"

"We'll find her later, Connor's waiting. You know how the stupid prick doesn't like to wait."

Mark scoffed, "Impatient bastard."

The other man laughed, "Let's just get this over with so we can move on with our lives."

Mark glanced back over his shoulder toward the kitchen before he left the galley, slamming the door behind him.

As soon as she heard the door closed, Alicia expired out of relief. She reached over and pushed the cabinet open, her jade eyes looking around. She scooted out from underneath the sink and quickly got to her feet, eager to find Alex in order to get their escape plan in motion. She cautiously left the galley, deciding to check the control room first.

When she rushed into the control room she felt a sense of relief seeing Alex standing there going through a small cabinet of keys, "Alex! We've got to go, now's our chance! Let's grab Travis and go. One of Connor's men is chasing me down and—"

Alex had picked out a set of keys before turning around, her demeanour calm and unfazed. She cut Alicia off, "I know."

"Well if you know, we need to get going."

Alex took a few steps backwards to step closer to the door, "You didn't think I was actually going to go with you, did you?"

"What?" Alicia blinked, feeling a knot in her stomach, "Why plan this escape then? You told me you didn't want to be here anymore than I did."

"I don't," Alex sighed, "but I had no choice. I told Connor _you_ were planning an escape.

"Why—why would you do that?"

"Because I get to sneak away while Connor and his men are too distracted looking for you. Nobody gets to leave the Aeger."

Alicia forced herself to swallow. Travis had been right all along, she should not have trusted this woman.

Alex backed up until she reached the door. She pivoted, pushing the door open. She then stopped herself short as she exited, looking back at Alicia, "I'm sorry. But you'll be punished, no deed goes unpunished."

Alicia gaped, shocked by being deceived. After watching Alex leave, her mind started to contemplate her next move. She soon figured even with Connor's men after her she still had a small window of opportunity to grab Travis and head for the shoreline. She shifted her eyes around the room until they landed on the box of keys on the wall. One of them had to open the jail cell in the brig. She practically leapt over to it, quickly rummaging through it, reading the label below each key. Finally she spotted it on the last row on the left hand side, the label reading: BRIG—the key was missing. She gasped, running her hands through her hair, whispering to herself, "Shit."

She looked around once more until she spotted a set of keys hanging on a nail jutting out of the wall that she noticed from earlier that day. She bit her lip, deciding to take the risk that one of the keys on the keyring was a spare to the brig. She snatched the keys and tore out of the control room as to not waste any more time.

* * *

Back on the _Abigail_ , Madison Clark was getting the launch ready to depart. She double checked she had a gun in her back pocket; she wanted to be prepared in case things went sideways. She then looked over to see her son approaching the dingy.

"Mom, let me go." Nick squinted his eyes in the sunlight as he walked with his arms dangling by his sides. He held a pair of sneakers in one hand. He worried about his mother's safety in this hostage exchange.

She narrowed her eyes, her voice stern, "No."

"No, let me go. Listen to me. If something happens, it's better if it's me. _Everybody else needs you_!" He decreed, tossing the sneakers into the launch.

"Nick! No!" Madison shouted, trying to end the discussion, not wanting Nick to go on any more dangerous missions. She worried about 'the look' in his eye; he was getting high off an adrenaline rush from risking his life.

"And I'm better with the boat," Nick continued, "Why won't you just let me go?"

Madison looked up at her son, narrowing her eyes, "Because you want to."

Nick glared back at his mother, realising there was no more arguing with her.

Salazar appeared, gripping onto the binds around Reed's wrist, pushing the dead boy forward toward the launch.

Madison looked past Nick, sighing at the sight, "Jesus." She put one foot in the launch and the other on the deck in order to help Salazar guide Reed's moving corpse into the dinghy.

"Be careful," Salazar warned, pushing Reed into a sitting position. Reed's body thrashed about in the launch, rocking back and forth in an attempt to lunge at a potential victim.

Madison climbed back into the launch, "Okay." She started the boat, and left the loading dock, eager to rescue Travis and Alicia.

* * *

On board the _MV Aeger_ , Alicia threw open the door to the brig, running to the cage, keys clutched tightly in her hand. She caught herself against the chain link door, staring into the cell, only seeing Jack sitting there. It scared her to see Travis was absent, "Jack—where's Travis?"

"Alicia. What are you doing down here?" He staggered to his feet, going to meet her at the door. He was genuinely surprised to see her there.

"I came to get Travis," She replied, her voice breathy, "Where is he? Do you know if he's okay?"

"I don't know," Jack shook his head, reading the worried expression on Alicia's face," Connor, he took him somewhere…said something about seeing your family again."

"What?" Alisha jade eyes brightened at Jack's words, a look of confusion coming over her features, "You think…You think that's why the Abigail is back too soon? My family came back for me?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

Alicia met Jack's eyes and felt her cheeks instinctively flush. She lowered her eyes, taking in a slow breath, beginning to feel the keys grow heavy in her hand. "I'm going to get you out of here. Come with me."

"What? How?" Jack narrowed his eyes, looking at Alicia with scepticism.

"Can you tell if any of these keys will work?" Alicia held up the set of keys, speaking with a sense of urgency.

"Uh, yeah, yeah," Jack nodded, squinting his eyes down at her hand holding the keyring, "It should be a silver one with a blue keycap."

Alicia sorted through the keys and found the one Jack spoke of. She fumbled with the lock, finding it difficult to get the key in, her hands were shaking, "It's not working!"

Jack's brow creased, quickly catching onto how nervous Alicia was, "No, no, that's the right key. You've got to slow down."

She nodded her head, "I'm sorry. One of Connor's men is trying to find me. Connor knows I am trying to escape, Alex told him. If I get caught…"

It was no surprise to him that Alex had tricked Alicia, especially after what her family did to her. Nonetheless, he wanted to stay hopeful and positive for Alicia's sake. "You won't get caught."

She gulped, closing her eyes, exhaling slowly. She opened her eyes, trying one more time with the key—the lock clicked open. She smiled to herself in satisfaction; she pulled the keys out of the lock and jerked the doors, "Hurry."

Jack grabbed Alicia's hand in order to lead her out of the brig when suddenly Vida appeared at the end of the gangway making the two freeze in place.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" She glared, her eyes narrowed to thin slits. She quickly strode toward the end of the hall as if she could do something to stop Alicia and Jack from escaping.

"We're leaving." Jack tugged on Alicia's hand, stepping forward.

"No, I think you two can stay in the cage." Vida snapped, whipping out a baton.

"I don't think so," Jack let go of Alicia's hand and lunged forward grabbing Vida by the shoulders. He growled, turning her around and shoved her backwards until she was in the cell. He then swiftly closed the doors, pressing himself against them, "The keys Alicia!"

She shoved them into his hand and watched him lock the doors. She almost laughed when he saw him taunt Vida by jangling the at eye level. With a rush pulsing through him, he felt incredibly valiant. He then turned around, taking Alicia's hand again, and nearly dragged her out of the brig.

Vida growled, shaking the door as if it would work, watching them leave, "HEY!"

* * *

The two made their way through the small maze of corridors and when they rounded a corner, they were spotted by two of Connor's men who were lingering in the gangway, clearly looking for Alicia. Alicia and Jack pivoted, Jack grabbing Alicia's hand again as they attempted to run away.

"Hey!" One of the men yelled sprinting down the hallway; the other man followed, whipping out a gun as he rounded the corner and shot at Jack and Alicia who were nearly at the end of the long hall. The bullet ricocheted off a metal post, making Alicia yelp.

The two rounded another corner and at the end of that hallway it split. Jack chose to go left. Alicia gripped Jack's hand tighter, looking back for a quick second, not able to see the men.

Jack pulled her into a room, knowing they needed to hide. He gently closed the door, holding a finger up to his lips, hearing the two men run past it.

Alicia's breath was rapid, her heart pounding away, and her tear filled eyes large with fright. She clenched them shut for a moment, forcing herself to swallow, trying to calm herself down.

Jack caught his own breath, peering around the pipe filled room. He spotted a door on the opposite wall, "Come on. I think this door leads to a stairwell."

* * *

As Jack and Alicia were being chased, Madison Clark made her way onto the dock pushing Reed's corpse ahead of her. He stumbled clumsily, his jaw smacking underneath the hood. Madison looked ahead to see Connor approaching being followed by two men. One of them was gripping onto Travis. She frowned, seeing Alicia was absent, "Where's my daughter?"

Connor shouted back, "You'll get her when I see my brother's alright."

Madison silently cursed him, praying he did not harm Travis or Alicia in anyway. She used a pocketknife to cut Reed's binds before shoving him forcefully at Connor. She sighed as one of Connor's men repeated her actions, pushing Travis in her direction.

"Maddy!" Travis exclaimed out of relief.

"Travis." She responded in a breathy voice. She turned her eyes back at Connor watching him unveil the hood on Reed's head. She listened intently as he gasped in shock, calling out his brother's name, before Reed attacked him.

Reed growled, ripping into Connor's arm, taking a large chunk out of it. He then lunged forward, pouncing onto the man beside Connor, burrowing his head into the nape of the man's neck. Connor stumbled backwards, a hand instinctively gripping at the profusely bleeding wound on his arm. He was in utter shock, not able to fully process what was happening. His own brother a leadhead now.

* * *

Meanwhile, as the exchange was going on between Madison and Connor, Jack and Alicia ran out of a large door to discover themselves on the stern of the _MV Aeger_. They were both out of breath from running, feeling as if they were still being chased.

Alicia frowned, her eyes peering around, "Now what? Where do we go from here?" She asked with a pant, looking at Jack for answers.

"I—I don't know." Jack huffed, "We could go through the galley and—and we could—the boarding ramp starts on C deck—we could take a boat—"

"But—but if we go back in there, we risk getting caught!"

"What other choice do we have, Alicia?"

"I don't know." She ran her hands through her hair, feeling a sense of dread come over her. She peered out at the horizon with a small growl of irritation, feeling at a loss of what to do. Suddenly she spotted a familiar black and white yacht lingering in the harbour. She gasped softly, "Oh, my god!"

"What? What is it?" Jack asked with hints of alarm evident in his voice.

"Look!" She pointed out into the harbour, "It's the Abigail."

Jack squinted his eyes, focusing his vision out to the horizon. He did not know why but he felt a small sense of disappointment upon seeing it. Deep down he almost hoped they could runaway together.

"You realise what this means? Jack, you were right. My family, they've come back for me"

Her jade eyes shifted downwards when she saw a commotion happening down on the decks, she gaped realising it was her mother and Travis.

* * *

"We've got to go," Madison turned to her boyfriend, "We've got to find Alicia."

She then cut Travis's binds, her eyes searching around to get an idea on how to board the ship to find her daughter. She withdrew her gun, figuring they might need it. Suddenly, one of the men ran toward them, ready to tackle Travis to the ground. Madison gasped, "Travis! Watch out!"

A primitive instinct to protect her loved one rushed through Madison's brain. Before she could compute it; she lifted the gun and shot at the man. She watched him jerk backwards by the force of the bullet. As he recovered, Reed came up behind him and bit into man's shoulder.

"Come on! Let's go find her!" She grabbed Travis's hand beginning to step over toward another dock that led to the ship. Suddenly she heard a distant voice calling out, "MOM!"

She looked up; noticing who she was certain was Alicia. She could not make out who exactly was standing next to her daughter but if she had to take a guess it was Jack.

* * *

Alicia shouted, watching her mother and Travis stop in their tracks and stare up at her and Jack. She heard her mother yell back, calling out her name. She turned around to face Jack with large, pleading eyes, "Come back with me."

"I…I can't." Jack shook his head, looking surprised and confused by her request. He gulped, feeling afraid.

"Come with me, Jack." She beseeched again.

Jack blinked his dark eyes, shaking his head, staring down at Alicia, "I want to, but—"

"But what?" Alicia peered up at him, her eyes scanning his face.

"What if they abandon me like they abandoned Alex?"

"They won't, they won't abandon you. I won't let that happen."

Jack furrowed his brow, pondering the outcome if he chose to go with Alicia. He felt this connection to her that he did not want to give up.

"You'll die if you stay here."

Jack sighed, shaking his head, "How do we know that I'm no better off here than out there? After what I did? They won't accept me."

"After what you did? You tried saving us from Reed. Jack, I know this sounds crazy, but please, come with me."

After a long pause, he began to nod his head, giving into Alicia's request, deciding to take the risk. "Oh—Okay, I'll come with you."

Alicia took in a deep breath, nodding her head. She turned around and went to the edge of the stern.

Jack's eyes widened upon realising what she was intending to do, "You can't be serious."

"Jack, it's our only chance."

He gulped, stepping up to stand beside her. His eye quickly stared down the slope, trying not to think about the thirty foot drop that awaited them. He hesitantly sat down next to her with his legs out, not eager to use the back of the stern like a slide.

Alicia took a hold of Jack's hand, their fingers intertwining. She squeezed it tightly, keeping her eyes forward.

Jack craned his head, watching her, his voice shaky, "Are you sure about this?"

She took in a deep inhale, shaking her head 'yes', not saying anything as she scooted forward, ready to take the plunge.

* * *

"Alicia! No!" Madison yelled, helplessly watching her daughter slide off the stern of the ship with Jack, falling into the frigid water below.

"Come on, Travis!" She started to head toward the launch, knowing they needed to rescue Alicia.


	14. My Soul to the Devil

Alicia surfaced with a large gasp, shocked by how cold the water was. Her arms instinctively made small circles as she struggled to keep afloat. She spit out seawater, starting to look frantically around for her friend, "Jack?!"

"Alicia!" He called back as he swam over to her; his clothes weighing him down.

Alicia treaded water for a moment before looping around when she heard the whirling buzz of a motor approaching. A sense of relief swept over her upon seeing it was her mother and stepfather in the launch.

"Alicia!" Her mother called out, guiding the dinghy over to the two. She unconsciously frowned when she saw Jack. She turned her dark greens eyes over to Alicia, "Come on."

Madison held a hand out to Alicia for her to grab so she could hoist her daughter into the dinghy.

Jack continued to bob near the launch, unable to look at Travis or Madison. He blinked abruptly when a hand appeared in front of his face. He shifted his dark eyes up to see Travis reaching out for him. He hesitantly grasped it before being pulled into the raft.

Madison's brow drew together, questioning her boyfriend's actions. She shifted her eyes back and forth between her daughter and Jack. They sat next to each other, shivering, breathing deeply. Madison respired, turning her eyes to Travis who was nodding as if to signal it was okay to bring Jack back with them. She opened her mouth to dispute and then craned her neck at the young man, "Jack, we're going to take you to shore."

"Mom, no." Alicia protested, shaking her head, "He'll die if we take him back."

"It's true, Maddy," Travis attested.

Madison remained silent, her eyes side-glancing Jack.

"We should give the boy a chance. He did try saving us."

"We don't even know if we can trust him!" Madison returned her gaze to Travis after what he said.

"I trust him," Alicia protested; her body shuddering.

"Alicia, _no_." Madison countered with a stern voice, giving Alicia a hard look before casting it onto Jack, "I'm sorry but we're taking you to shore."

"Mom," Alicia opposed again, wanting to give Jack a chance to redeem himself. She questioned why her mother would not grant him that opportunity, "Why won't you just give him a chance?"

"How do we know these people were his only friends? He could bring more of them down on us!"

Jack swallowed the lump in the back of his throat; the foul taste of salt water in his mouth. It did not bother him that these people were having this discussion in front of him, acting as if he was not there. He had accepted an outcome of being left behind. Nonetheless he found himself quickly demurring aloud, "These people weren't my friends,"

"I believe the boy. He simply got mixed in with the wrong group. He means well."

Madison tried to comprehend why her daughter and boyfriend were standing up for Jack like this, she hardly believed him standing up to Reed was enough to trust him. "No. We're taking Jack to shore and that's final."

Jack nodded, not wanting to cause any trouble. He turned to face Alicia, "It's better this way. I'll be fine on my own."

Alicia frowned, shaking her head, "It shouldn't have to be like this."

"Maddy," Travis pleaded, not wanting to repeat another scenario like they did with Alex, "We can't keep leaving people behind. We'll make it work."

"Travis, are you listening to yourself?" Madison scoffed, "We can't take the risk."

"Hey, I had your back when you wanted to bring Seth and Nina back to the boat."

"That was different." Madison hissed.

"It's the right thing to do; I'm asking you to give the boy a chance. We can't just leave him to die."

"I…" Madison grumbled at Travis, wondering why she was having this debate with Travis and Alicia. She felt pressured by their insistent stares.

"Fine," Madison gave in, rolling her eyes, "We'll give him a chance."

"I want to thank you," Jack spoke up with a sheepish expression, "And I want you to know that back on the boat, I wasn't there to hurt anyone. I didn't enjoy what I was doing but I felt I had no choice. When someone saves your life, you owe them. You just saved mine; I'm in your debt now."

"Don't be so quick to thank us; we still have to convince Strand." Madison remarked.

* * *

Back on the _Abigail_ , Victor Strand was pacing back and forth on the upper deck while Nick leaned against the railing peering through the binoculars. He stopped pacing when Nick proclaimed that they were headed back.

"Good, about time. We need to move on from this mess."

"Wait," Nick frowned, looking through the binoculars again, watching the launch get closer, "There's someone else with 'em."

"What? What do you mean _someone else_?" Victor inquired, reaching for the binoculars, "Give me those."

He brought the binoculars up to his eyes, glaring through them.

He quickly caught sight of a young man in the dingy with the others. He closed his eyes, whispering to himself, "Damn it, Madison. What have you done this time?"

* * *

Below deck, in the main gathering area, Ofelia was sitting on one of the benches reading a book. Salazar was standing at the stern of the ship, the side of his hand pressed against his forehead to shade his eyes as he looked outwards to the watch the approaching launch. Luis sat opposite of Ofelia, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Are they back yet?" He asked, breaking the silence in the room.

Salazar frowned, peering down at the loading dock, watching Madison, Travis, Alicia, and Jack get out of the launch. He felt for his gun in his back pocket, speaking over his shoulder at Luis, "We might have trouble."

Ofelia put the book down in her lap, a worried expression coming over her face, "What do you mean?"

Nobody answered her and she was left to watch her father raise his pistol up to eye level. She frowned, placing the book on the bench, and got to her feet.

Luis walked over to Salazar, scowling in frustration when he saw an unfamiliar face with the others. "No, no, no," he tsked, muttering in Spanish, "You people are foolish."

Nick and Strand came down the stairs and strolled into the main gathering area. Nick's expression was unmitigated which contrasted with Strands aggravated one.

Madison, Travis, Alicia made their way up to the lower deck all in a row. Jack lingered at the bottom of the stairs; his hands grew clammy as he gripped the railing on the stairs. He let out a deep breath before ascending the steps.

Daniel clicked the hammer of his gun as soon as Jack came up on deck. Alicia held her hands up at Salazar, stepping in front of him, telling him not to shoot and that Jack was with them. He looked at Madison and Travis for an explanation.

Travis looked around, knowing half of them would not understand the decision he and Madison had made. Convincing Strand would be the hardest part.

Madison pushed out her bottom lip, looking at Jack then turned her gaze onto Strand, "He's coming with us."

Strand stepped forward, speaking with exasperation, "No, you put him back where you found him. We have neither the time nor the room."

Alicia pointed behind her in the direction of the dry docks, "He's going to die out there if we take him back."

"That's his problem, not ours." Strand retorted.

Ofelia did not have any animosity toward Jack because he had courageously stood up to Reed. She voiced her opinion, feeling she had a say in the matter, "He did try to save us, we at least owe him that."

Salazar scoffed, "Yes, _tried_. He is of no use to us now. I say let the boy swim back to shore. Perhaps he will find new friends out on the water. "

Ofelia gave her father a look before she peered back over at Strand, "If Travis and Madison want to bring him on board then so do I."

Strand shook his head, "He's not coming, end of discussion. My boat, my rules."

"No, we're taking him with us. It's the right thing to do. Nobody gets left behind anymore." Travis tried the same argument he had used with Madison.

"What part of what I'm saying do you not understand?"

Alicia stepped forward, raising her voice at Strand, "Without him you wouldn't even still have the Abigail. He stood up to Reed—he would have killed us all if it hadn't been for Jack. My mom told me what happened—Jack, he gave me the crowbar to use against Reed. If it hadn't been for that, you'd all be dead. He gave us a chance."

"One good deed does not redeem a man." Daniel said, lowering his gun to his side.

"What he said." Strand intoned.

Luis shook his head, speaking emphatically, "You people need to stop debating. We are wasting time. We will miss our chance to cross into Mexico. Adding one more is a problem; we're eight too many as it is."

Jack drew his thick brows together, "You're going to Mexico?"

"That is none of your concern." Daniel snapped.

Luis turned to Strand, a consistent scowl etched on his face, "How do you expect to get through the flotilla anyhow?"

He held up two fingers, "I have _two_ bars of gold, enough for _two_ people." He waved the two fingers in the air, "Not eight, not nine…"

"I told you before, everything is a negotiation." Strand sighed, clearly peeved.

Jack stood with his arms crossed over his chest in an attempt to keep warm, listening intently to the conversation. An idea dawned on him, although, he was not sure how much he would benefit from it. He smacked his lips, his mouth very dry. He finally found his voice, "You folks really think money will get you across the border?"

"Uh, uh, uh," Luis chided, shaking a finger, "Nobody asked for your say in the matter."

Strand smirked to himself, "Let's hear what the boy has to offer, I'm curious."

Jack could feel all eyes on him, creating an immense pressure to give a proposal made him nervous, "Money has no value anymore. It's all about resources. I'm offering you resources; Connor, he has a room full of supplies—food, medicine, weapons…"

"Ah, we have a negotiator on our hands." Strand spoke sarcastically, leering under his breath.

"Oh, no, no, no, we're not walking into some trap. No, we go as planned. His plan will get us killed." Luis said with irritation.

Strand countered, "The boy has a valid point. Money has no value any longer. Miguel is avaricious and a scrounger. He'll do anything to save his own ass; including backing out of our deal. The boy is smart. I'll give him that."

"And you're impulsive." Luis bickered, rolling his eyes.

"I adapt." Strand sneered.

"You're seriously going to listen to a kid you just met?!" Luis bayed.

"No, I am not. We don't have time to diddle-daddle on some precarious mission; which is why we stick to the course."

Luis sighed in satisfaction, "Great, let's toss the kid overboard and continue heading south."

Jack's eyes widened slightly as he gulped. He now truly understood what Alex must have gone through with these people. He quickly regretted coming, thinking he had made a huge mistake.

Strand kept a straight face, "I am a lot of things Luis but I am not that forbidding. Unfortunately, we have neither the time nor the means to return the boy to shore and I am certainly not giving up my launch."

Alicia listened to the two men bicker, starting to become hopeful with the results of their conversation, "So Jack stays?"

Strand rubbed his face with one hand down to his chin, shaking his head with closed eyes, "Seeing that I really have no other choice in the matter being we're pressed for time, and as much as it pains me to say this, the boy can stay."

Jack blinked, surprised by the change of heart, "Thank you, really, I mean that. I'll pull my own weight; I'm good with radios, radars, sonars…" He added, wanting to prove his worth to Strand.

Strand stared back at Jack looking unimpressed," Don't press your luck. The moment you even look like you're up to something, I _will_ toss you overboard."

"Now if you people will excuse me, I've got a boat to start back up." Strand left to go back to the wheelhouse with Luis trailing behind him with an annoyed look.

* * *

Madison waited until they were out of sight before she turned to her daughter and Jack. "Let's get you two a change of clothes…"

She forced a smile; she was not 100% on board with the idea of letting Jack on the _Abigail._ She had given in because of Travis and Alicia. She was also giving Jack the benefit of the doubt simply because he had stood up to Reed; she wanted to believe he had gotten mixed up with the wrong group. The fact was she still did not trust him.

Alicia and Jack did not have to be told twice; they were both sodden and freezing. They followed behind Madison below deck.

After the three of them had left, Salazar turned to Travis, "You're making a mistake letting the boy stay."

"I've already said, it's the right thing to do. He tried saving our lives, we're returning the favour."

"Like I have said before, you'll see what doing the right thing will get you."

Ofelia and Nick exchanged glances; unsure how this was all going to work out civilly.

* * *

Below deck, Alicia went into the crew quarters while Madison took jack to her and Travis's room because she thought Jack would fit into Travis's clothes. Alicia stepped into the bedroom shivering; her jade eyes looked around and noticed Chris and Nina. Chris was lying on his back in his bunk staring up at the ceiling while Nina lay on her back in her bunk staring up at the bottom of the top bunk. Alicia remained silent as she stepped over to her suitcase underneath the bunk she shared with Nina.

Nina moved her eyes and propped herself up to watch Alicia. Chris sat up, staring down at his stepsister, "You're back. My dad back? Is he okay?"

Alicia stopped rummaging through her bag and twisted her torso around to look up at Chris; she unintentionally had a chary look etched on her face. She had been made aware that Chris had shot Reed. "Yeah, yeah…we're okay. Everything's good."

Chris nodded with a shamefaced expression; he did not want to face his dad yet because of what he did. He fathomed his father would not understand even though he felt he had done nothing wrong, "Tell him I don't want to see him."

Alicia arched her brow, confused by Chris's request, "Uh, sure. You okay?"

"I'm fine." Chris said rather darkly before he laid back down and went back to staring up at the ceiling.

Alicia revolved back to her suitcase, picking out an outfit. She looked up and met eyes with Nina for a moment but could not think of anything to say. Alicia slowly got to her feet and left the room.

* * *

A few hours later, sometime in the early evening, neither Chris nor Nina had left the bedroom; neither had spoken a word to one another either. Alicia and Jack were in the main gathering area playing a card game; Ofelia had gone back to reading. Daniel was out on deck fishing while Strand and Luis remained in the wheelhouse. Travis and Madison were in their stateroom discussing about what had happened the past day and a half, if they made the right decision bringing Jack along, and how to approach Chris about what he did.

"I'm worried about him, Travis. Reed wasn't sick and he certainly wasn't about to turn."

"We don't know that." Travis retorted, shaking his head.

"Travis," Madison gave him an astute look, "I hate to say this but I think Chris deliberately shot him. Something must have happened that provoked him."

Travis let out a heavy sigh, wanting to believe his son had killed Reed because the young man was about to turn, "I'll talk to him, okay? I'll find out what happened."

Madison opened her mouth to respond when she was interrupted by a knock on the door. She and Travis shared looks before she went over to open it revealing Nick.

Nick rocked on the balls of his feet, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure. Is everything okay? Is it Chris?" Madison asked, opening the door wider to allow Nick to slide through.

"What? No. I came to talk to you guys about something." Nick responded, looking back and forth between his mother and stepfather.

"About what?" Madison crinkled her brow, slightly fretful about what Nick might tell them.

"Have you guys noticed anything strange about Nina?" Nick started, continuing to shift his eyes back and forth between his parents.

Madison's frown deepened, "No, why? Should we?"

"Well, for one thing, I haven't seen her sleep since we rescued her," Nick voiced his concern, "I really think she's taking something."

" _What?_ " Madison queried incredulously, "What do you mean? Like drugs?"

Nick nodded, "Yeah, the prescription kind."

Travis appeared confused and sceptical, "Did you actually see her take something?"

"Well, no," Nick replied, "but the way she's been acting. She went into this rant earlier and—"

Madison raised her eyebrows, interjecting, "That doesn't mean she's taking something."

"But I'm telling you—"

"Nick, she's probably rattled by whatever Reed did to her. I'll go talk to her in the morning. Right now, we need to deal with Chris."

Suddenly, a distant voice started yelling out 'Dad' repeatedly; it sounded as if it was coming from above. Travis, Madison, and Nick all looked at one another before scarpering out of the bedroom to investigate.

* * *

As Nick was having the discussion with his parents, Chris sat up in his bunk and looked around; he needed to get some fresh air. He stared over at Nina and watched her for a moment; she was sitting up in her bed with her knees pulled up to her chest and her back against the wall. She appeared out of it as she stared out into space. He broke the silence, realising they had not spoken since he had shot Reed, "Hey, how's it going?"

Nina blinked, coming back to reality, her voice breaking, "I'm okay."

"I'm going up on deck, you wanna come with?"

"No, I'm fine," She respired, finally meeting Chris's gaze.

He stared at her longer than he meant to. He swallowed dryly and averted his eyes while a sense of bashfulness came over him. He then crawled out of his bunk and left the room. He made his way up the stairs located in the crews quarters which lead up to the promenade.

Once on deck he took in a deep breath enjoying the smell of the sea; his eyes looked out to the horizon where the sun hovered. His eyes felt tired all of a sudden as he came to the realisation that he had not slept for the past day and a half. He quickly shook the thought away and began to stroll down the promenade until he got to the sliding door that opened into the main gathering area.

He briefly glanced into the room and decided he would see what everyone else was doing. He casually stepped into the room with his hands in his pockets. He blinked when he noticed a familiar face sitting next to Alicia. His mind attempted to process what he saw; he wondered if he was in a dream at first, "What the hell?"

He muttered before he started shouting, "Dad? Dad!"

Jack and Alicia immediately looked up and over at Chris appearing as if they had been caught doing something they were not supposed to.

Chris stepped forward, glowering at Jack, he spoke in a threatening manner, "You get away from her!"

Jack knew his presence would not be welcomed yet it still startled him the amount of acrimony Chris seemed to have toward him.

Alicia got to her feet, speaking rapidly, "Chris, it's okay. It's okay. He's not here to hurt anyone. He's with us now."

Chris raised his voice even louder, wishing he had a gun, thinking he was reliving another hostage situation. He did not even hear what Alicia was saying, "Dad!"

Travis came bolting into the room, nearly out of breath, "Chris? What—what is it? What's wrong?"

Madison and Nick followed, it did not take them long to realise why Chris was calling out for his dad. Daniel came into the room curious as to why Chris was yelling; he shook his head when he figured it out and left the room to continue fishing. Ofelia continued to peer up from her book to watch things unfold.

Chris looked back at his dad, wanting an explanation, "What's _he_ doing here?"

Travis swallowed, steadying himself, he spoke slowly and calmly, "He's coming with us."

Chris's eyes narrowed at the news, he glared back over at Jack, "Why? He shouldn't even be here!"

Travis peered around the room at everyone, deciding this was his opportunity to have the one-on-one with his son that he need to have, "Chris, why don't you and I go talk somewhere private?"

"No," Chris scowled, giving his father a hard look before turning his eyes over to Alicia and Jack, "Alicia, get away from him!"

Alicia shook her head 'no', "Chris, calm down…"

Jack stared over at Chris, holding his hands up in defence, "I'm not here to cause any trouble."

"Shut the hell up!" Chris spat, narrowing his eyes. The last person he wanted to hear from was Jack. He could not understand why nobody else seemed to be bothered by Jack's presence.

"Chris, enough," Travis reprimanded, going over to put a hand on his son's shoulder so he could guide him out of the room and back toward the promenade, "Let's just talk about this, okay?"

Chris jerked himself away from his father's grip, casting another scowl around the room before he left.

Madison waited a moment before she went back downstairs, deciding she did not need to be part of the conversation between Travis and Chris.

Nick lingered behind, going over to sit down next to Ofelia, feeling a heavy tension in the room.

* * *

After Chris left the room, Nina sat there staring ahead observing a glow around all the objects in the room. She blinked very slowly, convincing herself it was all in her head. She ignored the yells coming from above deck as she started to lick her lips, parched for water. Keeping her eyes forward, she reached beside her for the water bottle she kept stashed between the mattress and wall. She sulked when she realised it was empty; it meant she would have to go upstairs to get a refill. She sighed with disappointment as she scooted from her bunk and got to her feet. She did not want to leave the comfort of the crew quarters; it was safe and quiet, away from everybody else—at least for now.

She left the room and paced herself up the stairs leading to the deck. She grumbled to herself, wishing there was another way into the galley than having to go through the main gathering area. Her eyes immediately went to the horizon to stare out at the last remaining bits of light from the setting sun; it cast a beautiful orange and red glow across the sky. Her eyes started to feel heavy with fatigue; she opened her eyes wider with an exhale, convincing her body to stay awake.

She leaned against the railing, inhaling slowly while she took in the view. The light from the sun made everything hazy; the clouds almost appeared painted in the sky. As she held her breath, the sunset reminded her of being back on Catrina Island with Seth. She exhaled sadly at the memory of her friend. She hoped he had ended it rather than letting himself turn. She dismissed the distracting thought from her mind, not wanting to dwell on such melancholy subjects anymore. She pushed herself away from the railing wanting to get water from the galley and return to the bedroom as quick as she could.

She stepped over and into the main gathering area; she started to head left in the direction of the galley when someone caught her eye. She lost the grip on her water bottle as her eyelashes fluttered, her eyesight adjusting to what she saw. She stifled a gasp, a knot quickly formed in her stomach while a heavy pressure built up in her chest. Her heart started to palpitate; the rhythmic vibrations resonated in her head. She pressed the back of her hand against her lips, thinking she was about to vomit.

"No," she shook her head, ' _no, no, no, no..._ " She ranted frantically with intonation, taking a step backwards becoming misty-eyed.

Everybody in the room averted their eyes in the direction of Nina; quickly catching on that something was amiss. Alicia spoke up first, sounding alarmed, "Nina? Nina, what's wrong?"

Ofelia put down her book, her lips parting with a sharp inhale out of wonderment; she wanted to know what could be upsetting the young woman.

Nina looked over at Jack and then burst into tears; the room seemed to crash in on her. Memories of Reed flashed throughout her mind. She fell to the floor landing in a side-sitting position. She let out another cry believing it was happening all over again; she would be doomed to repeat the events of the night before.

Nick frowned with concern, unsure if he should intervene and approach Nina in this time of distress.

Jack fidgeted in place, putting his head down; his eyes fell to the floor. His face flushed, and he forced himself to swallow while he pulled at the collar of his shirt like it was choking him.

* * *

Once outside, Travis and Chris had gone over to sit on the benches at the stern. Travis looked at Chris as he spoke.

"You'd do that? Just let him stay? After what he did?"

"The boy tried to save us." Travis responded, knowing his answer would not gratify Chris.

"So? What? We trust him now? No—he was with Reed. We can't trust him," Chris leaned his elbows further against the table.

"We're giving him a chance," Travis intoned, "it's the right thing to do."

Chris scoffed with a glower; in disbelief his dad was so trusting of someone who had just tried to take over the _Abigail_.

Travis sighed, "We need to talk about Reed. Tell me, what happened?"

Chris contracted his eyes, defending himself, "I didn't do anything wrong."

"That guy you shot wasn't sick." Travis countered, intertwining his fingers as he laid his hands on the table.

"Who said that? Who said he wasn't sick?" Chris sat back, looking astounded. He waited for his father to answer but was met with a blank face. It dawned on him suddenly as he derided. " _Madison?_ "

Travis respired, appearing concerned, "She's worried about you."

"She said she believed me, Dad." Chris said dejectedly.

Travis stared over at his son, keeping mum.

"You believe me, right?"

"I…" Travis started, wanting to believe his son, unsure of what to think.

"Dad?" Chris's voice cracked, a sense of betrayal coming over him.

Travis deliberately gulped, nodding slowly, fluently lying as he gave in to his son's plea.

The sound of weeping drifted out onto the deck causing Chris and Travis to look toward the main gathering area. They both frowned and then got up to investigate.

* * *

Alicia got to her feet when Travis and Chris came into the room. She craned her head in their direction, her eyes full of fret.

"What happened?" Travis asked in awe, his eyes shifting around the room before landing on Nina again.

"I…" Alicia shook her head slowly, turning her eyes back onto her friend, "I don't know."

Chris watched Nina with curiosity before he spoke up with an ominous tone, side-glancing Jack with a dark glare, "Reed's what happened."

Travis closed his eyes at his son's remark; he felt clueless on how to handle the situation.

Nina continued to weep; she had leant forward pressing her forehead against the floor. She struggled to breathe with each sob.

Nick had witnessed something similar once in rehab when a girl panicked in group therapy. He attempted to recall what the counsellors had done to deal with the situation. He stood and went over to Nina, kneeling in front of her, "Hey, it's okay. You're okay. You're okay."

He hesitantly placed a hand on her back but jerked it away when she flinched.

Nina sat up, looking affright for a few moments until she realised it was Nick beside her. Her breath staggered while she tried to compose herself.

"You okay?" Nick inquired before it dawned on him that had been a dumb question to ask.

She wiped at her eyes, sniffling, keeping her eyes locked onto Nick. She stumbled to her feet, rolling her dark orbs around the room, muttering incoherently. She placed a hand on her forehead and closed her eyes while tears remained cascading down her rosy cheeks. She briskly left the vicinity and went below deck with a perplexed expression.

Nick watched her leave and then turned back to everyone else who was staring at him for an explanation. He shrugged with his arms up in the air before he rose to a standing position. He then followed Nina, leaving everyone in the room stunned.

* * *

Nick cautiously walked into the bedroom in the crew quarters; he gently rapped his fist on the doorframe to gain Nina's attention.

She sat on her bed, eyes fixated to the floor. She was no longer crying; she did not even have to look up to know who had followed her. Nina's voice broke, "Why is he here? Why is he here?"

"Uh, um," Nick started before being interrupted.

"Is he gone? Reed, is he gone?"

Nick drew in his brows, puzzled by her question, "Reed's dead."

"But I thought…" She trailed. Keeping her head down she slowly brought her eyes up to meet Nick's, "Jack, he—"

She cut herself short, shaking her head, starting to become upset again, "I don't—it doesn't make sense—"

"Hey, it's going to be okay. Jack, he's not here to hurt anybody." He waited a moment, seeing Nina was becoming upset again, "Do you want to talk about it? It'll help to talk about whatever happened."

"No," she objected rather sternly, turning her head away, "I just want to be left alone."

"Alright, alright, I'll leave you alone," He pouted, "Just try to get some sleep or something, okay?"

Nina barely acknowledged his request as she went back to staring at the floor.

"When you're ready to talk, I'll be here." Nick kept his eyes on her for a minute before he turned around to leave. He glanced back at Nina one more time before he left the room and shut the door.

* * *

It was almost midnight, and the _Abigail_ continued to head south. Luis steered the boat while Strand slept in the captain's room. Daniel was sitting on the edge of his bed in deep thought; Ofelia slept soundly in her bed. In the crew quarters, Nick rolled over in his sleep and Chris lay in his own bunk staring up at the ceiling. Nina was on the upper deck lying on the bench staring up at the stars. Alicia slept on the couch in the main gathering area; Jack slept on a bench in the same room, his back facing Alicia.

In Madison and Travis's stateroom, the two of them sat in bed talking. Travis was propped up against the wall with his pillows, staring out into the room. Madison was also propped against the wall, her eyes on Travis.

"You think Nick could be right? He would know about these things better than we would." Travis shifted his eyes over to Madison.

Madison responded with a small sigh, "I hardly think a meltdown means she's taking something. Nina was upset about Jack; she's gone through a lot the past few days. We all have."

"We can't cross the possibility out."

"We could always do what I used to do with Nick and go through her things." Madison suggested.

Travis raised his eyebrows and considered the option, "I'd still feel better if we talked to her."

"Then we'll talk to her in the morning, okay? Why don't we try getting some sleep?"

Travis nodded, barely glancing over at Madison.

"Goodnight, Trav." Madison sunk into the sheets, rolling over on her side, and shutting her eyes. Exhaustion quickly taking over.

Travis remained silent as he turned off the lamp; he waited there a moment staring out at the bookshelf thinking in the dark. Shaking his head he laid down and attempted to go to sleep.

* * *

Dawn had barely broken over the horizon; nearly everyone was still asleep. Jack and Alicia had woken before the sun had risen and were standing on the landing dock watching the sunrise. A mustard coloured hue spread across the morning sky, the bottoms of the clouds were a shade of pink and a gentle breeze blew in from the west.

"I bet the sunrise is more beautiful in Hawaii," Jack lightly joked.

Alicia smirked, rolling her eyes, "What's your obsession with Hawaii?"

Jack shrugged, "Cause it's a paradise? I dunno, it seems isolated, maybe it hasn't gone to shit like the rest of the world."

"Maybe," Alicia's brow crumpled, contemplating his words as she stared off into the distance, "I guess we'll never know…"

Jack kept his eyes on Alicia, scanning over her features before he broke the wave of silence that had come over them, "I really like the way the sun lights up your eyes."

"Wha—oh, um, "Alicia blinked; his statement caught her off guard, "Thank you."

Jack smiled softly, watching her blush. He slowly turned his dark eyes out to the horizon with a grin still playing at his lips.

After a moment, Alicia shifted her eyes onto Jack to watch him when she noticed Nina coming down the stairs. Her eyes followed Nina picking up on a determined look etched on her friend's face, "Hey, Nina."

Nina ignored Alicia and narrowed her brown eyes as she approached them. She glared at Jack, "You don't belong here."

Alicia sighed, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly looking annoyed. She scoffed, "Please, don't start."

Nina barely glanced back at Alicia, "Was I talking to you?"

Alicia made a face, "Seriously?"

Nina went back to scowling at Jack, before she shoved him, "You're not supposed to be here."

Jack frowned, taking a step back, "What the hell? Look, I don't want any trouble…"

Nina pushed her hands against Jack's chest again with a small growl.

Alicia tried to intervene, "Nina, stop it."

Nina took another step forward, shoving Jack again, "You've come to punish me, didn't you? I know you know—admit it!"

Jack instinctively stepped backwards a few steps, getting closer to the edge of the dock. He cast a confused expression at Nina, " _What_?"

Alicia raised her voice, "Nina, quit it!"

Nina glanced back at Alicia, 'You're so stupid, Alicia. Don't you get it? He's just like Reed—he's here to punish us for what we did! He'll probably try to murder one of us in our sleep—probably going to try and rape you—I won't have it, I won't!"

Alicia appeared baffled, "Nina, you're talking crazy!"

Jack frowned again, attempting to take a step forward, "What's your problem?"

Nina turned to face Jack again, "My problem? My problem is _you_!" She proceeded to shove him back with all her might. He stumbled backwards, lost his balance, and fell overboard.

Alicia gasped, her eyes widening, "Oh, my god! Jack!"

Jack resurfaced with a curse, noticing the boat had moved a few feet. He shouted back, struggling to stay afloat, "Alicia!"

"What the fuck did you just do?!" Alicia glared at Nina, before she started to yell, "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!"

"You want me to push you in next?" Nina returned the scowl before she stomped off.

Alicia blinked at Nina's threat, appalled. She quickly went back to looking out at Jack, shouting again, "HELP! HELP!"

It was not long before nearly everyone came running out from below deck to see what all the yelling was for—Madison, Travis, Ofelia, Daniel, and Nick.

Madison descended the stairs as quick as she could; Travis trailed behind her, "Alicia! What? What is it?"

"STOP THE BOAT! STOP THE BOAT!" Alicia screamed with tears in her eyes, she turned back to her mother, "We've got to stop the boat—Jack—he's in the water. Nina pushed him!"

Travis gaped, "She _what_?!" He turned his dark eyes outwards, "Oh, Jesus."

Ofelia stood on the stern, looking down at the loading dock before she peered out at the horizon. She quickly caught sight of Jack; she brought a hand up to her mouth, "Oh, God."

Alicia ran away, nearly tripping on the stairs as she made her way up toward the bridge in order to get Strand to stop the boat.

Madison followed her daughter, "Alicia!"

Nick pushed out his bottom lip, deciding he would search for Nina. He headed back to the stairs to go below deck.

Travis made his way up the stairs to stand with Salazar and Ofelia; all the three of them could do was stare out at sea. The boat had moved at least fifteen to twenty feet away from where Jack had fallen.

* * *

In the wheelhouse, Strand shrugged, staring back at Alicia and Madison, "He needed to get off my boat."

" _Seriously_?" Alicia's jaw fell open, shocked by Strand's statement, "Is that some kind of sick joke?!"

Madison glared, "We're not doing this again. You don't get to decide who lives and who dies—we're not leaving him in the water. Now, stop the goddamn boat!"

Luis cut in, "Hey, lady, Jack is lost to the sea. Sorry, we don't have time to stop the boat. We continue to head south; we're going to miss our window to cross."

Strand sighed heavily when he heard Luis. He reached out and stopped the boat, looking at Madison, "You've got ten minutes."

"Oh, thank God!" Alicia respired before jolting out of the room.

Madison kept her eyes on Strand, in disbelief that he had seriously thought about leaving Jack to his doom, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I'm through doing favours for people. You owe me."

Madison did not answer him; she shook her head and left the room.

* * *

As Madison and Alicia were having their discussion with Strand, Nick had wandered into the crew quarters. He noticed Chris brooding in his bed, "Hey, man, have you seen Nina?"

Chris slowly looked over at his stepbrother, "No. What's with all the yelling?"

"She pushed Jack overboard and—"

"Good." Chris interrupted.

Nick crinkled his brow, "Not helping. Look, man, I just really need to find her."

Chris glared at Nick, "It's a boat, how far could she have gone?"

Nick shook his head and left the bunk room without another word.

* * *

Travis scampered down the stairs to help Madison and Alicia prepare the launch.

Salazar stayed up on deck with his daughter as they watched things unfold.

After a moment, Ofelia turned to her father, "I'm going to grab a blanket..." She stepped away to go to a supply closet where extra blankets would be.

Salazar shrugged, watching the launch speed off in the direction where Jack was floating.

* * *

Once the launch had returned, Strand had restarted the boat; Ofelia handed Jack a blanket as he stepped into the main gathering area with Alicia and Madison.

Jack thanked Ofelia and wrapped the blanket around himself as he sat down on the edge of the bench; his entire body shivering.

"I'll go make some tea," Ofelia left and headed toward the galley.

Madison sighed, watching Jack for a moment before she looked over to see Nick coming from below deck, "You find Nina?"

Nick shook his head 'no', "She's not below deck. I'm going to go check the sundeck."

"I'll look with you," Madison stated, not giving Nick a choice in the matter.

Travis chimed in, "I'll come with."

* * *

The three of them found Nina on the sundeck sitting on a bench. She was leaning back with her elbows resting on the railing; her head turned toward the bow.

Madison approached cautiously as she cleared her throat, raising her voice against the gentle breeze, "Nina? You okay?"

Nina frowned slightly, turning to look back at the three of them with confusion; she was met with troubled stares. Her frown deepened, "Why are you people looking at me like that?"

Madison looked at Travis then Nick before returning her gaze at Nina, "You pushed Jack off the boat, remember?"

Nina looked doubtful, shaking her head, "No, I didn't. He must have fallen."

Travis and Madison exchanged glances with one another at Nina's blatant lie. Nick had his chin pulled into his neck, his head down. He stroked his chin, his eyes staring at the floor as he listened to Nina.

Travis shook his head, "No, Nina, you pushed him."

Nina viewed their expressions, her glistening eyes narrowing, "Why are you people so mad at me? Aren't you proud of me? I did what no one could. Don't you see—things will be better now…"

She gave a short closed-mouth smile as she sniffled again, a few tears falling down her cheeks.

Travis blinked at Nina's response, startled by how cold she had been in delivering her confession.

Madison moved over to Nina, deeply concerned, thinking the girl was in need of major counseling. She sat down next to the young woman, and then looked back over at Travis and Nick, "Hey, Travis, will you get Nina's backpack for me?"

Travis nodded slowly, not catching onto why Madison wanted Nina's backpack.

Nick peered up at his mother with a knowing expression as if to say 'told you so', he craned his head over to his stepdad, "I'll go with you, Trav."

* * *

Travis trailed into the bunkroom behind Nick, glancing around the room until his eyes landed on his son. He slowly brought his eyes down and over, spotting Nina's bag sitting on the edge of her bed. He stepped over to the bunk with his stepson.

Chris propped himself up and watched the two of them with interest.

Nick grabbed Nina's bag and dumped out the contents onto the floor, making sure to go through every pocket to make sure the bag was completely empty in case she stashed anything inside the lining. His dark eyes widened slightly at the vast array of items spread out on the floor. There were clothes, a couple of books, two empty toilet paper rolls—smoke bombs, and a couple packets of pool shock (chlorine). There was also a bottle of brake fluid, a small bottle of bleach, about a dozen mini alcohol bottles, a first aid kit, a pile of feminine-pads, and three bottles of cayenne pepper. There was also a water canteen, two packs of batteries, seven packets of gum, a tin can, a lighter, four empty water bottles, a flashlight, a water canteen, a switch blade, and a small pistol.

Travis's eyes widened in awe, "Jesus, this is a lot stuff …" He knelt down to pick up a packet of pool shock to investigate.

Chris quirked his eyebrows at all the stuff, curious as to why his dad and Nick were digging through Nina's bag, "What're you guys doing?"

Nick sighed, reaching into the backpack, "Looking for something…"

He felt an inner pocket that had missed that had five cylinder shaped objects; he pulled out the bottles, placing each one on the ground, "Hello…"

One of the pill bottles was almost empty; the other four were completely full. Nick kept a pill bottle in his hand and read the label.

"What are they?" Chris asked, sitting up further.

"Some heavy shit…" Nick answered with a mumble, looking up at his stepfather, "Adderall."

"What's that?' Travis asked with a distracted tone, looking up from examining all the content on the floor. He dropped the packet of pool shock back onto the pile.

"It's an amphetamine; used for ADHD," Nick continued, checking to see if all the bottles were the same drug—all contained Adderall but each bottle had someone else's name on the label.

Travis furrowed his brow, "Why would she have this? You think she has ADHD?"

Chris scoffed, "Kids take it to study, Dad."

Nick almost laughed at Travis, finding him to be so naïve, "They also take it for the high. It's basically legal speed. This explains so much…"

Travis sighed, "Well, Maddy will want to see this."

Nick nodded, grabbing all five bottles and left the room.

Travis got to his feet and looked up at his son, "Chris, you alright?"

"I'm fine," Chris said darkly before lying back down. He rolled over, grumbling something under his breath.

Travis took one more glance back at his son before he left the room; hating to see Chris like this.

* * *

Madison sighed, staring at the young woman, "Nina, talk to me…"

Nina continued to stare off into the horizon for a moment longer before she slowly craned her head, "Why are you mad at me?"

"Nobody is mad at you, I'm just concerned about you, that's all. You want to tell me why you pushed Jack off the boat?"

"I did what I had to do. He doesn't belong here." Nina answered, moving her head so she could peer out at sea.

Madison let out a heavy sigh, noticing Travis and Nick coming up from below deck. Her eyes followed them as they approached.

Nick placed the pill bottles on the cocktail table, "Thought you'd be interested to know I found these."

Madison reached out and picked up one of the bottles, reading the label. She turned her green eyes onto Nina, "Adderall, huh?"

Nina's eyes widened, turned her head to stare down at the table until her eyes landed on the pill bottles. Her eyes shifted back and forth quickly as she started to mumble something under her breath, not able to look up at anyone.

Travis sat on the bench near Madison, "Nina? You want to tell us about the pills?"

Nina spoke in an undertone, appearing ashamed, "They're my secret weapon…"

Nina frowned, unable to make out what she had said, "How many do you take a day?"

Nina kept her dark orbs glued to the table, beginning to speak in a dreamlike manner, "90mg. That's one, two—three pills a day—sometimes four."

"Jesus," Nick sounded appalled, "That's more than a recommended dose."

Travis and Madison frowned at hearing this; each keeping their eyes on Nina.

"Why do you take them?" Travis asked tentatively, hoping not to upset the young woman in anyway. She seemed to be in a fragile state.

Nina brought her eyes up, blinking slowly, her tears drying up, "I take them to forget; to forget all the sorrow in the world. They make me feel good and I can stay awake for days. Focused, alert…"

"When was the last time you slept?" Madison inquired, never having dealt with something like this before.

"Six days," Nina stated calmly, "I don't sleep. I have to stay focused or else it'll happen again."

Travis gulped, shocked, "So _what_ doesn't happen again?"

Nina looked away again, her eyes fixated on the horizon, "So no one else has to die…"


End file.
